balance vs feral leveling for wotlkFollow

I've leveled 1-74 feral and I've loved it. Now that balance is a viabley strong spec I've been wondering about switching. I'm not asking which one is better, simply which has the potential to level faster. Are there any other feral who switched and are really enjoying it??

$.02

I've you leveled 1-74 as feral, I can't imagine you'll bust out 75-80 faster as balance than you would as feral. First, even if you've been collecting an off-spec set of caster gear, you surely have much better melee gear than caster. Second, with 74 levels under your belt you are probably/hopefully really really good at being a feral druid.

The feral spec is known for fast leveling thanks to the speed boost of Feral Swiftness, the self-healing-on-crits of Improved Leader of the Pack, the wicked damage and stealth-past-trash ability of cat form (feral instinct does make a difference, btw), and the survivability of dire bear form (in appropriate melee oriented armor). And it's all with no downtime since you can use that "mana" stuff to quickly heal yourself after particularly nasty fights instead of enjoying a 30-second meal.

FWIW, I've tried respec'ing balance twice in my day. Once in the 40s and once again since the 3.0.x patch that made moonkin rock. Had decent gear both times, did decent damage, liked having access to my CC for a change, but the playstyle just wasn't for me. I found myself playing my long-abandoned alts because I just didn't enjoy it. Since you've made it 74 levels feral and have "loved it" there's no reason to respec balance other than to play around and see if you like it. Save that for 80.

Edited, Nov 20th 2008 2:54pm by JeeBar

QFT

The experience of leveling is subjective, gear and skill based. Better gear and skill will equal faster leveling. More enjoyment will make the time go by faster and you will less likely to stop and do other things, RL related I mean, while grinding levels.

I believe that given a level 70 feral and balance druid with the same gear levels and player skill the feral would level faster. Their combat mechanics don't take away from mana pool for healing. Sure a geared and skilled boomkin could chain pull and regen mana fast enough to have small downtime but eventually you will have to drink. Maybe a pull gets out of hand or whatever but after killing and healing you will need to drink. When this happens to a feral they have a full mana pool to heal up and don't need the mana to keep fighting so can continue on with it next to empty.

I am just as certain that Arex levels faster as balance, for the reasons I quoted. Feral definitely has the potential for faster leveling. The mechanics of the class give it an edge in leveling. Same idea with enhancement shammies.

Jeebar, somehow this seems to be a universal truth, unconvenient, but still the truth. ;-)

My wife can't appreciate anything about WoW, except for those very sparse moments that she wants to get rid of me. The moments we do spend together though are funny, because she likes to watch television - her shows or whatever - and I get kicked around the house if I speak whilst watching...

So I push that small grey button at the front of my computer, watch the cool blue lights in the tower flash and vaguely, somewhere in the distance hear her say: "hey, are you going to be boring again?". /facepalm


Disclaimer: Yvonne, if you read this, you know that I love you, right? Ghegheh.

I feel that the most important point made here is to use the play style you enjoy. I leveled all the way to 73 as Feral and love kitty DPS. That being said I felt that I had to try Balance out so I respecc'd for a level. It took me a little bit to get use to a different approach but I enjoyed the change to Moonkin. When I ding 75 though I'm going back to Feral for Savage Roar. Besides I really miss Mangle.

I might have to create a second Druid and level to 40 as Feral and then go Balance. That way I can play both styles, whichever tickles my fancy so to speak. Only problem is I hate the idea of the long grind to 80 from 1.

Ya, I keeping reading about the duel spec but I not holding my breath waiting for it. I'm not to serious about starting another alt and I'm probably too cheap to shell out money for a level 70 druid to run as a "caster" spec. It would be nice to have one druid thats all Feral and the other thats all caster. Would definily free up alot of bag/bank space.