I read through the FAQs and stickies, but didn;t quite find my answer. And I'm not sure that the specs for levelling PvP versus BG would have the same impact.
Would you still go feral? Or would balance be a better option heading into Moonkin? I'll be duoing with a priest.
How should the talent points progress?
Thanks for the insight :)
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Levelling on a PvP server- what spec?Follow
The only difference between a PvE and PvP server is that you're a free kill in any contested zone, which is everywhere except Westfall, The Barrens and the starting areas. Not sure if there are other areas, but that's pretty much the main areas.
Leveling on a PvP server, you'll get intimate with paranoia and looking over your shoulder constantly. You'll also invent a few new curse words. But it can be loads of fun once you get to return the favor.
Since you'll be leveling with a Priest, I suggest you go Feral for maximum DPS and survivability. You can pretty much do anything together if you go Feral and he/she goes Shadow. Being Restoration with a Shadow partner is pretty much overkill in the healing area. Plus, you rarely need two healers for instances. Going Balance is an option, but having two casters also creates some issues, not to mention it's not very efficient downtime wise.
If you go Feral, you'll rip through the mobs like a hot dagger through a Gnome spleen. Seriously. You'll be game over and the credits will roll before you know of it. The Priest, with a Shadow talent built, can deliver both damage and healing at the same time (Improved Vampiric Embrace = win) and your Druid with a Feral talent build can do massive damage in Cat form for those regular mobs that don't pose much of a problem as it is. Or you can duo elite mobs with ease if you go into Bear form and tank them while the Priest does damage.
Vampiric Embrace from the Priest's Shadow talent tree returns a percentage of the shadow damage the Priest does as health to everyone in the same party as the Priest. Since Shadow Priests pretty much only use shadow damage to harm their enemies, it's quite a bit. I believe the total health returned (with Improved Vampiric Embrace) is 25% of the shadow damage done. So if the Priest crits for, say, 500 damage with Mind Blast, that's 125 health returned. The Druid also gets such a nice talent, however, it works in a different way. Improved Leader of the Pack is a Feral talent which returns 4% of your total health when you deliver a critical physical hit (no magic hits, unfortunately). 4% doesn't sound like much, but with Nurturing Instinct (also Feral talent) and 2,500 health in Cat form, that's 120 health returned on each critical hit (max once every six seconds). And in Cat form you crit a lot. A lot.
So the Priest will be healing both you and him-/herself through dealing damage and you'll be healing yourself through dealing critical hits. This means you'll almost never run low on health, making it very mana efficient since the Priest won't have to drop Shadowform to heal and you don't have to shift form to heal either.
It also means that you are able to duo very tough mobs since your armor and stamina will be skyhigh in Bear form, effectively making you a brick of fur and with various taunting abilities, the Priest doesn't have to worry about pulling aggro.
A Druid and Priest combo is pretty much god mode in this game, I think. Especially since you also have the ability to heal a bit. Not to mention you can use the spell Innervate to return the Priest's mana. Hell, it's like a dream team now that I think it over. Probably the most efficient combo there is.
Damn.
Can I join you guys?
Leveling on a PvP server, you'll get intimate with paranoia and looking over your shoulder constantly. You'll also invent a few new curse words. But it can be loads of fun once you get to return the favor.
Since you'll be leveling with a Priest, I suggest you go Feral for maximum DPS and survivability. You can pretty much do anything together if you go Feral and he/she goes Shadow. Being Restoration with a Shadow partner is pretty much overkill in the healing area. Plus, you rarely need two healers for instances. Going Balance is an option, but having two casters also creates some issues, not to mention it's not very efficient downtime wise.
If you go Feral, you'll rip through the mobs like a hot dagger through a Gnome spleen. Seriously. You'll be game over and the credits will roll before you know of it. The Priest, with a Shadow talent built, can deliver both damage and healing at the same time (Improved Vampiric Embrace = win) and your Druid with a Feral talent build can do massive damage in Cat form for those regular mobs that don't pose much of a problem as it is. Or you can duo elite mobs with ease if you go into Bear form and tank them while the Priest does damage.
Vampiric Embrace from the Priest's Shadow talent tree returns a percentage of the shadow damage the Priest does as health to everyone in the same party as the Priest. Since Shadow Priests pretty much only use shadow damage to harm their enemies, it's quite a bit. I believe the total health returned (with Improved Vampiric Embrace) is 25% of the shadow damage done. So if the Priest crits for, say, 500 damage with Mind Blast, that's 125 health returned. The Druid also gets such a nice talent, however, it works in a different way. Improved Leader of the Pack is a Feral talent which returns 4% of your total health when you deliver a critical physical hit (no magic hits, unfortunately). 4% doesn't sound like much, but with Nurturing Instinct (also Feral talent) and 2,500 health in Cat form, that's 120 health returned on each critical hit (max once every six seconds). And in Cat form you crit a lot. A lot.
So the Priest will be healing both you and him-/herself through dealing damage and you'll be healing yourself through dealing critical hits. This means you'll almost never run low on health, making it very mana efficient since the Priest won't have to drop Shadowform to heal and you don't have to shift form to heal either.
It also means that you are able to duo very tough mobs since your armor and stamina will be skyhigh in Bear form, effectively making you a brick of fur and with various taunting abilities, the Priest doesn't have to worry about pulling aggro.
A Druid and Priest combo is pretty much god mode in this game, I think. Especially since you also have the ability to heal a bit. Not to mention you can use the spell Innervate to return the Priest's mana. Hell, it's like a dream team now that I think it over. Probably the most efficient combo there is.
Damn.
Can I join you guys?
Please "talk up" if your comprehension white-shifts. I will use simple-happy language-words to help you understand.
LOL... Thank you very much for such a detailed response Mazra. That was exactly the information I was looking for. Perfect!
I wasn't sure if spec made any kind of difference on a PvP server, so thanks for clearing that up. About the only thing I read was that hybrids make great choices for PvP toons.
I look forward to my first encounter and subsequent beatdowns of Alliance :P
Have a groovy day!
I wasn't sure if spec made any kind of difference on a PvP server, so thanks for clearing that up. About the only thing I read was that hybrids make great choices for PvP toons.
I look forward to my first encounter and subsequent beatdowns of Alliance :P
Have a groovy day!
Scholar
38 posts
I can vouch for Mazra's claims - My wife and I levelled together; I'm the druid, she the priest. A most excellent combination.
PvP / PvE - Doesn't matter - The best way to level is to do quests (preferably quests involving large-scale mob-slaughter). No druid spec comes close to feral's ability to burn through mobs. Ferals have the best early game itemization available (sorry to all those rogues whose gear I "ninja'd" hehe), so that's a big help when you do get into PvP'n. And unfortunately, key talents in the balance tree are unavailable until you hit lvls 40-45 at least, making that spec a bit weak out of the gate (though the priest's mana return + a moonkin's spell crit aura (lvl 40ish) make for a delicious symbiosis).
Good luck and have fun,
-B
Edited, Apr 3rd 2008 12:24pm by Broma
PvP / PvE - Doesn't matter - The best way to level is to do quests (preferably quests involving large-scale mob-slaughter). No druid spec comes close to feral's ability to burn through mobs. Ferals have the best early game itemization available (sorry to all those rogues whose gear I "ninja'd" hehe), so that's a big help when you do get into PvP'n. And unfortunately, key talents in the balance tree are unavailable until you hit lvls 40-45 at least, making that spec a bit weak out of the gate (though the priest's mana return + a moonkin's spell crit aura (lvl 40ish) make for a delicious symbiosis).
Good luck and have fun,
-B
Edited, Apr 3rd 2008 12:24pm by Broma
I leveled with a shadowpriest from start to finish as feral on a PVP server (side note: it was fun as hell and damn quick). Just a couple of things that I noticed in my experience:
Expanding on what Mazra said regarding paranoia in a PVP server, don't underestimate the ability to track humanoids while in cat form - This greatly allows you to either avoid fights with factions or get the drop on them if you want to be offensive. Track humanoids + stealth = win! My partner and I coordinated our movement over the mics so things went fairly smooth especially in high-gank areas like STV.
Leveling with a shadowpriest (insert any dps-class here) also allowed us to focus on straight damage output. I predominantly had on agility/str gear on with a smattering of stamina here and there while my partner focused on a balance of int/spirit/damage/stamina. For granted, we had lower than average hp compared to equal level characters, but we hauled rear through quests and mobs. We had very little downtime as we both had HoT spells that we could do on the run. Plus, innervate was my shadowpriest's best friend in case he was low on mana. VE is a very nice spell, but i only recalled him using it during elite fights - normal mobs would die to quick for us to gain anything meaningful.
I did carry a few "tank-focused/bear" gear on me in case we had to down an elite but that is the beauty of being feral - our tanking/dps tree is the same. My partner also carried a few +healing items as well.
In terms of PVP, the brackets of 2x-6x were where I was able to well. The 1x bracket was very bad - my heals nor my dps was very strong and the opponents were geared/enchanted to the max. The 70 bracket is a mixed bag, i still do fairly decent to above average in the BG's, but arenas are killer. Level 70 PVP-specific gear has so much stamina and resilience that it is a completely different experience.
Needless to say, I am very surprised on how well things worked out in terms of grouping with a shadowpriest. I'm pretty sure that any dps could fill the spot but I would not trade the flexibility that we both had (dps and healing capabilities).
Expanding on what Mazra said regarding paranoia in a PVP server, don't underestimate the ability to track humanoids while in cat form - This greatly allows you to either avoid fights with factions or get the drop on them if you want to be offensive. Track humanoids + stealth = win! My partner and I coordinated our movement over the mics so things went fairly smooth especially in high-gank areas like STV.
Leveling with a shadowpriest (insert any dps-class here) also allowed us to focus on straight damage output. I predominantly had on agility/str gear on with a smattering of stamina here and there while my partner focused on a balance of int/spirit/damage/stamina. For granted, we had lower than average hp compared to equal level characters, but we hauled rear through quests and mobs. We had very little downtime as we both had HoT spells that we could do on the run. Plus, innervate was my shadowpriest's best friend in case he was low on mana. VE is a very nice spell, but i only recalled him using it during elite fights - normal mobs would die to quick for us to gain anything meaningful.
I did carry a few "tank-focused/bear" gear on me in case we had to down an elite but that is the beauty of being feral - our tanking/dps tree is the same. My partner also carried a few +healing items as well.
In terms of PVP, the brackets of 2x-6x were where I was able to well. The 1x bracket was very bad - my heals nor my dps was very strong and the opponents were geared/enchanted to the max. The 70 bracket is a mixed bag, i still do fairly decent to above average in the BG's, but arenas are killer. Level 70 PVP-specific gear has so much stamina and resilience that it is a completely different experience.
Needless to say, I am very surprised on how well things worked out in terms of grouping with a shadowpriest. I'm pretty sure that any dps could fill the spot but I would not trade the flexibility that we both had (dps and healing capabilities).
The one nice thing about resto is it's great for PVP and WSG. It seems painful to level solo with, but with a DPS partner (shadow priest?), it could be alot more fun. I have leveled a shadow priest to 43, they don't necessarily need a tank, and are fully capable of fast no downtime killing.
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