Best 70-80 leveling spec?

[nwo]

I finally decided that I wanna level up my 70 druid to 80. Which is the fastest leveling spec? Neither of my gear sets for those 2 specs are primarily for DPS. In other words, my boomkin set would be mostly healing gear while my feral set is mostly tanking gear. I would prefer to go boomkin since I already have the heirloom (cloth) shoulders and chest but I don't know how it is compared to feral.

[nexttosmelly]

boomkin if you have the items imo helps allot. but i leveled as feral all the way by the sounds of it if your boomkin gear is mainly resto you will have allot of mana regen so wont need much downtime ( the main reason i leveled feral) but you choice man:P

[Degrador]

I've written a guide for levelling druids: http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-dr...eveling-guide/

In summary for your question though, feral and balance are much of a muchness for 70-80. As long as you spec correctly (see the guide) neither has significant downtime, and they both do rather good DPS for fast levelling.

If you prefer boomkin then go with that.

[Deleted]

I would probably still put my money on feral, for several reasons:

- Balance can have downtime (if your gear does not support continious grinding)
- Feral has better survivability (solo elite quests in bear)
- Balance true damage comes from eclipse, and you don't get that up efficiently when grinding. Cats can keep Savage Roar up between mobs (use it as a finisher) and can keep up a large portion of their damage constantly.
- Feral has +30% run speed - over time, its significant. Prowl is also nice, but i suppose you have that as balance aswell, although slightly weaker.

Dont get me wrong, you can level as balance if you want, there is no harm in that. But i do believe that you will level faster with feral. Its all about enjoyment though. If you are having fun leveling as balance, by all means do it - it might be mere hours of difference, or a few evenings of playing around. Enjoy yourself

[nwo]

I'm balance at the moment and I must say that it sucks. If I didn't have alchemy to spam my endless mana pots (with alch tone for +40% effect) I would absolutely despise this spec. However, I never oom since I can spam the pots. Also, it sucks being squishy and not being able to AoE down mobs without popping CDs and putting HoTs on myself. Since I'm only level 72 at the moment, I'll probably re-spec to feral in a level or two once I get to the elite group quests. Having almost 1500 sp as balance... I was expecting a little more boom and a little less oom tbh.

[davesurfer]

I did 1-71 in feral and 71-80 in Boom. You do got OOM if you AOE a lot, but Single target Boom rocks. Dot, root, wrath. They never touch you. As for elite group quests, I just had my wife or guildie help me.

[Wenger]

Definitely feral. You kill things faster, and have no downtime because imp LotP. And it's way more fun.

[Daez]

Quite easily BALANCE!

[Daez]

- Balance can have downtime (if your gear does not support continious grinding)

No, actually, if you keep stacking the spirit and spec right there ZERO down time from 70-80 as balance.

- Feral has better survivability (solo elite quests in bear)

Umm, the vast majority of the elite mobs weren't root immune. Anything that isn't immune to roots is a joke for a balance druid to solo. Soloing group quests a balance was much easier than doing it as bear.

- Balance true damage comes from eclipse, and you don't get that up efficiently when grinding. Cats can keep Savage Roar up between mobs (use it as a finisher) and can keep up a large portion of their damage constantly.

Actually, true RAID damage comes from Eclipse. You don't even put Eclipse into a leveling spec. In leveling/grinding true damage comes from speccing for AoE.

- Feral has +30% run speed - over time, its significant. Prowl is also nice, but i suppose you have that as balance aswell, although slightly weaker.

30% run speed from 70-80 is pointless. Especially seeing this was an alt and one that existed in TBC which means most likely the player has epic flying and has an 80 (which means they can get the Cold Weather Flying book which means they can use their epic flying at level 70 in Northrend).

Dont get me wrong, you can level as balance if you want, there is no harm in that. But i do believe that you will level faster with feral.

You are entitled to be wrong. Here is the reason you are wrong though. From 70-80 the vast majority of the caster friendly gear kicks the ass of the melee friendly gear. Balance gears better from 70-80 so they level faster. I've tried leveling as both as I played feral in TBC and I ended up balance in WotLK.

As balance, stack the hell out of crit and spirit for leveling and you level pretty damn quickly with no down time.

[Daez]

I'm balance at the moment and I must say that it sucks. If I didn't have alchemy to spam my endless mana pots (with alch tone for +40% effect) I would absolutely despise this spec. However, I never oom since I can spam the pots. Also, it sucks being squishy and not being able to AoE down mobs without popping CDs and putting HoTs on myself. Since I'm only level 72 at the moment, I'll probably re-spec to feral in a level or two once I get to the elite group quests. Having almost 1500 sp as balance... I was expecting a little more boom and a little less oom tbh.

Seriously, learn to play balance. You are most likely specced wrong for leveling and not stacking enough spirit.

[nwo]

Seriously, learn to play balance. You are most likely specced wrong for leveling and not stacking enough spirit.

Would you care to suggest a leveling spec for me then (@72)? Here is my current spec:
http://www.wowarmory.com/character-t...Nwownd&group=1

I read the druid leveling guide:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-dr...eveling-guide/

Which doesn't mention spirit anywhere as a viable stat that should be stacked.

BTW, I'm logged out as resto, in resto pvp gear but you can still check out my spec.

[Deleted]

moonkin, no doubt

[Nichpish]

GOGO LAZ0R CHICKN!!!

[Degrador]

Would you care to suggest a leveling spec for me then (@72)? Here is my current spec:

This is probably what I'd go with for level 72: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0xG0uqIoIdhV0ohZbxcuo

It gives you all the regen talents and most of the damage talents you want. From there finish off MSS, then get Typhoon, Starfall, and after that it's kind of up to you - the rest don't make a lot of difference.

I read the druid leveling guide:
http://www.mmo-champion.com/class-dr...eveling-guide/

Which doesn't mention spirit anywhere as a viable stat that should be stacked.

I should probably mention spirit as well in there. Generally it's not too critical, but if you're having mana troubles then you should try to get a bit more of it. Still, between all the regen talents + Innervate every 3 mins you really shouldn't have much trouble even with very little spirit.

[Xun]

I don't understand how people can say Boomkin. Stack spirit so you don't have to drink? wtf. That takes away from damage you could be doing with spell power gear.

There is NO downtime with feral. Aside from DK, it has to be the quickest leveling I've seen. 70 - 80 I never stopped to eat/drink. Kill 5 or 6 mobs, throw a couple dots up and your off to the next mob. How could moonkin be better? crazy

[Degrador]

I don't understand how people can say Boomkin. Stack spirit so you don't have to drink? wtf. That takes away from damage you could be doing with spell power gear.

Just because it takes away from the potential damage you could do, doesn't mean that the damage it does is bad.

There is NO downtime with feral. Aside from DK, it has to be the quickest leveling I've seen. 70 - 80 I never stopped to eat/drink. Kill 5 or 6 mobs, throw a couple dots up and your off to the next mob. How could moonkin be better? crazy

Nobody is saying moonkin is necessarily better, simply that the differences between them aren't that large. If the OP would prefer to level as boomkin, then we're saying he won't be gimped by doing so.

[blaqkmagick]

I'm actually leveling my druid right now. He's level 73 and he's been balance since lvl 40. Yesterday I switched to feral to level(both specs I was using mainly quest greens) and I have to say for me feral is much better. I would have to drink after 3-4 mobs in balance (maybe I was doing it wrong, but I'm not a noob) where as feral you literally just keep going. I'm also having way more fun in bgs as well.
I guess it's up to you but I just switched on my druid and feral is way better in my point of view.

Oh and I was planning to go feral at 80 so this is a nice time to learn the play style.

[nwo]

This is probably what I'd go with for level 72: http://www.wowhead.com/?talent#0xG0uqIoIdhV0ohZbxcuo

It gives you all the regen talents and most of the damage talents you want. From there finish off MSS, then get Typhoon, Starfall, and after that it's kind of up to you - the rest don't make a lot of difference.

I should probably mention spirit as well in there. Generally it's not too critical, but if you're having mana troubles then you should try to get a bit more of it. Still, between all the regen talents + Innervate every 3 mins you really shouldn't have much trouble even with very little spirit.

I don't think I need: spirit, omen of clarity, or intensity for leveling because I can just spam endless mana pots and get ~3-4k mana back every minute. Mana is not an issue for me, I was just stating that boomkin mana sucks unless you go for all the regen talents + spirit gear.

I now know that I should drop eclipse and put those points somewhere else, maybe gale winds since AOEing 5+ mobs seems fun, especially with owlkin frenzy but I've died a few times because 1 hurricane wasn't able to kill them, so an extra damage boost to it might help a lot with that.