Interview with Spoh: The Future of Druids and More

If there's any class that has been quiet in regards to their current representation compared to pre-WotLK, it's Druids. And with abilities being tossed around such as Plague Strike, it's completely understandable as to why. That's not to say that just like other struggling classes, there aren't those that can still perform well in a challenging environment, but the majority of the big-name Druid's that were around and so successful before, have seemingly dropped off the face of the earth. Today I sat down with Spoh, one of the few top Druids still around, to discuss the current and future state of the class. Hope you enjoy!

Hi Spoh, how do you feel about the general state of Druids right now?

Spoh: I think druids are moving more towards multi-tree viability as both feral and moonkin are viable specs atm, and more than one spec in said tree being viable too. You have druids who are coming up with hybrid builds that work fine in arena, such as the resto/feral hybrid, dropping tree for charge and other valuable talents. I'd say that both feral and moonkin trees are strong, however I feel that moonkin may end up the strongest.

Lets talk about Feral in specific for a little bit, how do you feel about the tree?

Spoh: Although shred damage is really high, it requires you to be behind your target. I remember back in s1 when mutilate rogues had the same problem, where teams would just put their backs to a wall or ledge and negated alot of the damage that the class could do. Although I dont think that it works the exact same way for feral druids, i will say that most of the burst damage that you encounter with them is the shred damage. So yes, you can limit the amount of burst damage by quite a bit by just putting your back to a wall/ledge and not have to worry about your teammate dropping in a cc.  A druid can still do damage through bleeds, however most of the damage done will then be damage over time, and in that case, why not just take a DK.

In general though, I'd say the tree is well off. It just needs a few tuneups.

There are a lot of complaints in regards to feral being overpowered. How do you feel about these thoughts, as well as feral being considered similar to ret for Paladins?

Spoh: Well, I feel the claim has some validity to it. Feral druids, depending on their spec, don't have to worry about going oom. This was a big problem for them before, but I still think they suffer from not being able to play support well like Moonkins. Moonkins and paladins can use their support on the go, where as ferals still have to waste a couple globals to achieve this. It's either that or they can switch targets, and use a few globals to get combo pints/main or charge/bash. To add to before, both ret paladins and druids do great burst damage too, which is a very big reason why people associate the two.

And how about moonkin? Many people feel Balance is becoming a primary spec of Druids, what are your thoughts on this?

Spoh: Although I really haven't played much of moonkin, I've played against many and I've talked to good druids about the spec and how they feel about it. A Moonkin is a great third with either a warlock or MS class because they still do great damage. Their dots tick for good amounts, and wrath/starfire is no joke. They can also cc on demand, especially when a player is at half HP. Many moonkins will be able to finish an opponent in a second or two after cyclone drops in combination with another teammate.

Moonkins can also play support better than feral. If a feral druid needs to abolish poison or cleanse hex for example, they will need to spend a global to use that spell, and then another global on top of that to shift back into form. However, if they're being focused this isn't always possible, and the same holds for cc.

For moonkins, this isn't the case, so they can play the support role much better and then continue to do damage. They also have a knockback, which is incredibly useful when it comes to interrupting casts or knocking opponents off of ledges. When/if you land it, you have a good chance of proccing owlkin frenzy, which gives moonkins a 15% chance when hit, to increase damage by 10% as well as full pushback immunity. On top of that, they have two trees they can do damage with, and if one is interrupted you can use the other. These are really the basics, but you get the idea.

Resto seems to be a spec that has overgone a complete flip in terms of effectiveness and popularity as compared to pre-WotLK. How do you feel about the spec?

Spoh: Resto has some glaring problems that need to be addressed if they are ever to be considered over one of the other three healing classes. With possible changes to plague strike removing hots, the spec would definitely be more viable. However, there is a big problem with efficiency. Tree form is usually necessary in 3's atm, however in order to CC you need to drop form, and switching between the two constantly is a huge strain on mana pool. I'm not saying that druids should be able to cast all of their caster-based spells in tree form, I'm just saying that something needs to be done about that. Whether it is allowing cyclone/roots to be cast in tree form with an increased mana cost, or giving tree form some sort of shapeshifter buff like they used to have in vanilla wow where if they shifted out of a form, if they shifted to another form in 6 seconds, it would cost some % less mana.

Now, earlier I said that I feel moonkin will eventually beat out feral as a sepc, assuming no changes, but there is a good reason for that. Whne I got to 80, started doing bgs, and got a good feeling for how feral would really perform, I was surprised at the burst potential of the class. But there is one major problem that feral deals with that moonkins dont. Although shred damage is extremely high and strong, it still requires you to be behind your target. Moonkins suffer no such restrictions.

Generally speaking, what major changes would you like to see Druids receive for 3.1?

Spoh: Shred - I think that the positional requirement on shred should be dropped, however I feel that it's too powerful at the moment as well.  Blizzard said that they were toying with the idea of giving feral druids higher constant damage, which would mean that some nerfs would be coming for their burst regardless.  Buffing constant damage without nerfing burst a bit would be a big mistake. This would not mean that druids would be using only shred, as it is also important to keep up mangle/rake for better shred damage.

Imp lotp - 8% mana return to a feral every ~6 seconds is needed not really necessary, unless youre missing 3/3 natural shapeshifter.  Feral druids can forgo natural shapeshifter in the second-tier resto, and those talents points can be distributed to other damage talents.  I can't say what would be an exact fix, possibly change it to 3/6% mana return and see how that works out.  If its nerfed too much, it will make the already mediocre amount of support available to a feral even worse.

The other option is,

Natural shapeshifter - Reduces the mana cost of shapeshifting by 20/35/50% and the 50% reduction of bear/cat form in primal tenacity changed to 30%, so basically switching the values.  This would encourage most ferals to put at least 1-2 points into this talent.  This would require that they take a couple points out of extra feral talents if they wanted to rarely worry about going oom in a fight. The switch would also help tree form druids as they wouldnt be wasting as much mana switching between forms.

Glyph of shred - assuming that shred no longer requires you to be behind your target and no other changes to damage were made, the damage dealt by shred to stunned/incapacitated targets is increased by 15%, down from 20%.

Improved tree of life - Condensed to 2 talent points and increases armor by 50/100%, increases spirit by 8/15% and upon shifting out of tree of life form give you a buff that decreases your next shapeshift by 10/20%.

From your experience thus far, what are the most effective comps for druids to play in, and what are your plans for the upcoming Blizzard tournament?

Spoh: For feral druids, I feel that paladin hunter feral is a very viable comp atm (what combo of paladin/hunter isnt?) and I also think rogue/feral and either pal/sham as a third is also very doable.  I think that a feral/frost mage combination could be a good comp as well even with no ms because deep freeze counts as an incap, so both the mage and druid are doing max damage.

I feel that feral/dk/pal is alright, however I feel that any team with a hunter on it (which is a good amount of them) will kite this lineup, even with a paladin.  Whatever target they get on will get freedom and will be very tough with two traps down and one of them not having freedom (most likely the druid)

For balance druids, I think there are lot of options here too. Pal/hunter/boomkin (lol), sham/lock/boomkin, and sham/mage/boomkin could all be fairly viable. Although the last two comps dont have ms, they have alot of burst and cc options as mage/boomkin. Lock/boomkin is lust and loldots.

As for resto, the only comps id suggest are a double healer variant or wld.  Wld, although deemed "obsolete" in wrath, has still seen some success so I'm not going to count that comp out.  As for double healer comps, double healer/hunter comps have been fairly popular, although most run with a paladin/sham instead of a paladin/druid. I still think it could work though.

For the Blizzard tournament I plan on playing both feral and moonkin specs. In terms of comps, it depends on who I play with. I have been contacted over the last few months by a handful of different sponsorships looking for teams, a couple of which have recently found teams some time afterward, though I won't name who.

What do you find to be the most difficult comps for a Druid team to play against?

Spoh: I think that depends. Teams with hunters are difficult, but then again, what teams with hunters aren't? It's more apparent when you're running a cleave variant because although druids can shift, they need to waste a few globals to get through the trap a bit faster (assuming charge is down). And since paladins are so prominent atm, it's not always easy to slow and get behind the target, and charging won't keep them in place either. I would say just any team that has alot of snares, because although you can shift out of them, you still have to waste globals shifting, and thats less pressure youre putting out.

Thanks for the interview Spoh, any final words?

Spoh: It won't be finished for months, but I've got a 5th video in the making. It's not easy finding time, since im going to school full-time.