Boomkin.....why?Follow

Ok so I am a lock and just venting a little. Here is my question. Why do you boomkins roll...boomkin? And not to you druids who are just having fun as side spec to get off the repetiveness of healing or tanking, but to you druids who intentionally roll a druid for boomkin.

So I was running ZA with my guild and we have an extremely noob boomkin. Wrath spam and never puts up IS even though he is specced into imp IS. Well some bosses drop some leather healing gear or tanking gear and we ask him if he wants it, he replies that he hates melee and that he hates healing. Then we down hex lord and the caster trinket drops, I roll then he rolls and wins. Well that's life. Just one thing I can not understand is the reason he rolled a boomkin if he wants a caster dps? Maybe he wanted a support class as a caster...ok, although an elemental shammy will beat you in almost every department. Same (if not better) dps, better group buffs: mana spring, wrath of air, totem of wrath (3% crit and hit), and heroism VS 5% crit and imp IS (two spells which basically equal just one of the shammies totems), and of course they can heal if needed (I dislike elemental shammies too, of course, since resto can supply the same buffs but are actually helpful).

And of course if he just wanted it for the "dps" why not just choose a raw caster dps like a mage or lock (Im knocking out an avg ~1300dps on relatively tank and spank bosses, like bear, without a spriest or heroism while hes pumping out maybe 800-900 dps, obviously that's just him sucking balls but I don't think a boomkin can match my dps)?

I guess I would just feel better losing gear to a class I feel actually matters. Oh well.


Edited, Jul 1st 2008 1:22pm by Tugnus

Plus, this is a game and maybe he rolled boomkin to have fun. Maybe he had a lock, or elemental shammy or mage and decided he wanted to be able to spam moonfire and wrath as opposed to lightning bolts or fireballs or what have you. I think it's been demonstrated that boomkin dps can't keep up with other casters in hardcore raiding, but there's more to wow than damage meters.

Plus the Moonkin dance is uber.

** double post **

Edited, Jul 2nd 2008 12:10am by Nilrruc

My advice is be quiet and enjoy your 5% crit, a bad player can make any class look bad.

I have a boomkin in my raid and he is competant DPS, sure maybe he isnt pumping out the same as we locks might (i wonder how much his dps would be if you added all extra dps KFC aura brings) but i cant pop a battle rez if a raider drops or throw a few clutch heals in tight situations.

Sounds like the OP is considering the reasons he might roll a class and expecting everyone else will have the same reasons.

I rolled a druid for versatility, and I love it. My druid is feral spec...I can tank or dps with a gear swap. When I'm dps, however, I'm not having nearly so much fun as when I'm tanking. Too much running around, imo. Thing is, I had never tanked anything until I made my druid, and even then I didn't really get into tanking until I hit Outland. I'm just starting to get into tanking non-heroic level 70 dungeons (with heroics in the near future), but so far I'm having a great time.

See a couple of hints there?

1) I don't like feral dps in groups. When I was leveling, cat form was my bread and butter. I personally found it unappealing when I started grouping as my mainstay. I didn't know I wasn't going to like melee dps as a feral druid until I got to the point where I was using it from time to time in groups.

2) I didn't know if I was going to like tanking until I hit Outland, and those dungeons I tanked pre-66 (Lacerate) had me reminding myself that it would get a bit better at...66.

The thing about being a druid is that you start out at level 1 with essentially caster/healer form. You go 10 quick levels and then you get bear form, which is pretty slow killing but more survivability. Then at 20 you get cat form and the clouds open up and the light shines down and the choir of angels...er....ya. Then you slog through for 10-20 levels with an identity crisis until you finally settle in on what works for you. For a lot of people, that's feral with cat form for most things, bear form for if you're getting overwhelmed, with the option to heal and maybe even a bit of nuking here and there. I've known a couple of druids who level as Balance spec, and it's slow. Why would I want to have to stop and drink...ever...when it takes < 10 seconds to get a full energy bar?

Then the day comes when all that's left for solo content is farming and dailies. You try your hand at this or that in grouping until one thing stands out for you. You've still got the versatility based largely on how much inventory space you're willing to tie up with gear, but when push comes to shove you have certain decisions to make. A lot of the druids I know leveled feral and then respecced Balance or Restoration when tanking/melee dps wasn't to their liking.

A well geared and played Balance druid can bring a great deal to a group. The dps is good. The party buffs are good. If a person settles on a particular spec and then refuses to make use of the rest of the options a druid can bring to a group, they're not a very good druid. When I'm tanking, I'm tanking. That's about all there is to it. I'll help top up party HP after a wipe but once I'm bear, I'm bear for the duration of a given fight. On those occasions where I do find myself as melee dps, I'll pop out and heal or battle rez if the situation requires it. For AoE pulls, I'll pull with Moonfire, have the mobs pass through a Hurricane, and then drop into bear just before they get to me. Beyond that, I don't have the gear to contribute in a caster role, so I don't. I don't have the gear to join a group as healer, so I don't.

Tanking and healing are at the extreme ends of the druid versatility scale. Those are the party roles where you don't really expect a player to do much more than one main thing. A tank taking hits isn't going to pop out and heal the dps. A dpsing healer is usually (not always, but usually) a recipe for disaster. A feral dps or boomkin, on the other hand, should be more versatile. If all they want to do is rawr/nuke, they're going to find themselves outclassed by other...well...classes because they're ignoring a large segment of their utility in a group setting.

In short, as others have said, it's not the class...it's the player. Druids are handed an enormous toolbox and its up to them to decide how to use it.

Why would people roll a druid as feral to tank? I mean, a warrior is better for most situations for one-on-one, and almost all boss fights. A Paladin is better in pretty much any situations with multiple enemies and little crowd control.

It's because the class has some much more to offer! The Boomkin you played with was a bad player. STOP CONFUSING THE PLAYERS WITH THE CLASS! A good Boomkin:
1. Would have been doing more damage
2. Would have been offhealing and battle-ressing (and if those weren't necessary, then good for your group!)
3. Would respond to these criticisms by saying "Well, if you don't want MotW, thorns on the tank, or my 5% crit to all our casters, fine!"

You made a huge mistake by mixing up the player with the class. It would be like saying "why roll a mage when you could have a warlock?" Same arguments; warlocks own in caster DPS. You focus on one very narrow segment that in NO way is the class in its entirety.

Nah no real difference. Before TBC, Moonkin were considered Oomkin (Out of Mana, don'tcha know) because of the lack of gear tailored to their needs. Now they've earned the title BOOMkin, because they can pack a punch; and help the rest of the casters do the same.

Just out of curiousity, why would a boomkin rolling 800-900 dps in ZA be that terribly bad? Mind you my guild just started doing ZA and I'm just a lowly resto druid.

But I rolled boomkin up until 70 when I just recently switched, because boomkins are way more versatile than anything else. Being able to heal, to tank when needed (which is incredibly useful in Gruuls when you need an anti-sheep tank), toss out some decent dps, battle res, and give the caster group of raids an extra 5% spell crit. Did I mention the amazing hip thrust dance?

I rolled boomkin because I liked it and I enjoyed playing it. It seems that the OP has a problem with the boomkin in his raiding group because the OP deemed him a noob, not because the said boomkin sucks.

No not really some people use to call a moonkin who didnt know how to play and just spamed moonfire a boomkin because of the moonfire spame. doomkin sounds really nice too. its just now sence BC a druid caster can really pull its wight in a raid or pvp. my boomkin seems to get lots of ally agro in the BG because of it. lol

I'm sorry about that. I was half asleep when i wrote it.(and my spelling sucks so don't even say anything about it because i know already)



My main is a boomkin. I rolled him because I love druids. I had a tele wind druid back when i play D2.

For that he may hate doing melee compate like me witch is why he dont roll feral. Plus druids seem to be OP in the spec they choose. Your druid u say was a nub and shouldnt be in ZA with that kinda of power.

But mine on the other had has a Warth that hiting for about 1.5 and 2.5crits and im not enven decked out yet. Plus now we have the abilty to cast a 1sec starfire in PvP. So when u can rain down a 1sec 4.5k+ attack that has a 15% to stun the tartget why wouldnt u roll it?

Druids can tank, heal, melee, and spell dps! But they have to pic one spec or the other because a druid around lvl 70 is OP in the spec they choose when they get gear. But they cant do sh*t in the other spec really that well because of how a druid is set up. You can't cast bal or resto spells and stay in cat and bear forms. Witch when you come out it leave u veary weak for that time. You have to come out of ur boomkin form to heal.(mine has about 13k+ armor with cloth sh*t on lol) So a melee char can go from hitting u for like 100-300 damage a swing to over 1k every attack with out you armor.

We roll caster because we are buff casters. We have the armor and a few nice tricks of our own to wipe the floor with everything that gets in our way. A mage and other cast (other then a elem shammy) all sport cloth and can be killed off by a hunter or other melee or ranged attacks easly. Mean wile a boomkin can be being hit by a rouge and warrior at the same time and still kill em both off due to his armor is so great.(I just did that in SMV the other day) And they can't make a dint with a healer by the boomkins side.(same goes for dire bear form) The boomkin may not die till it runs out of mana lol.

So thats why some people roll boomkin. It kicks ***. U can summon 3 trees to attack as well. I mean really when my trees can kill off a mage unless he takes the time to use his aoe to kill em. I dont have to left a finger to attack it.

1.5k - 2.5k wrath witch is usly a 1sec cast because of our tree and we crit a lot. And be able to cast a 1.5-1sec 4.5k+ starfire witch can stun as well. We are a little OP. But because of it we only have two kinda of spells Nature and Arcan. And only really 4 spells we can use Insect Swarm, Wrath, Starfire, and Moonfire.(this balenses the op with less we can do) So yeah why would u roll it.

Because druid is the best mult class. With it you can paly as a warrior or rouge or mage or prist when ever ur want. (keeps u from getting bored and make a complet new char)

Now for raids. Just about every one im in they like to have at lest one druid in it and the casters love it when a boomkin is there. Why u ask Why have a boomkin. Well my friend its simple. A prist, Mage, or lock can't stop and rez some one in the middle of the boss fight now can they. Oh wait druids can! And your boomkin is a great for that because they usly are not keeping any agro or close enogh to get swiped at by the boss like the feral in the bosses face. Plus they can wipe curs from u as well if you have a healer who can't do that. Or they can heal if your healer runs out of mana. They got the armor to not get charged by a mob and one shoted like all your mages, locks, and other clothys.

They also have a plus 5% to spell crit arua. Witch casters love to have they extra cirt. If a boomkin is skilled. It can do a lot of damage. It may not be on the top of the DPS chart. But there is more to a raid they just who does the most dps. What if say one of your top dps guys die off in the middle of the fight. The fight could take a heck of a lot longer then you want. And that runs your healers OOM witch is not what you want. But hey you have a druid boomkin who hasn't used his battle rez. That one boomkin rez the guy invervats them and boom that one rez could of made the defrince between a wip and a nonwipe.

True story best dps dies fight takes to long and my rez is on cool down we. He keeps dieing for some resone and we wipe 2 times. My rez came back and we gave it one more shot. He die like befor the 1st to get killed soemthing about getting a little to far for our healers to heal. I rez him this time. And boom we down the guy that time because they fight didnt take half as long as its been taking so one some thing can make a defrince in the fight.

So boomkins r nice to have and a fun class to role. You cant judge the rest of us because the one u had sucked. It just not right. You dont see me saying "God this lock sucks well the whole class sucks then". Turthfully I think locks are kinda fun to play but thats just me. lol

Sorry ther 1st one i wrote was choppy. I was about to pass out on the desk. I hope this was a better one and easyer to read.

I guess it was an extracritical hit. : ) Kudos and thanks to bloodhunterx, though, for taking the 'constructive criticism' in stride and adding value to the thread with a little invaluable reformatting. Thanks, mate, welcome to the best class forum you'll find.