Druid leveling in Cata

[revilfour]

In previous expansion Feral was the best spec to level in, is this still how it will be for cata? My Ms is Feral tank and Os is Balance would balance be a better choice?

When you answer could you give your reasoning? Im prolly going to level feral since I have much better gear, but if someone has a convincing enough arguement I will use balance.

[erebusman]

Id like input on this as well going to roll a worgen druid for end-game tanking but leveling could be anything... whats best with this new system?

[Pull My Finger]

Does it even matter? You will progress extremely fast and without the slightest problem with either spec.

Personally, I like Feral better because all you have to do is: run up to the mob, hit Mangle, hit Rake, Hit FB. End of story. Feels faster to me than casting.

[Ozy]

I would guess feral since there are usually situations where going bear can make a win while questing...i know it did from 1-80 for me. I havent played beta so this is just an assumption however.

[Fierae]

I think that either is valid early cata - not sure how it will pan out later as mana is meant to become a more 'coveted' resource.

I will always go feral as I work on the basis that - you go cat and dps, you go bear when you get in trouble, you run away and heal using the mana you've NOT been using for either of your abilities.

Feral is great though, you can maul people's faces.

[revilfour]

For balance you have a knockback, stun and a very powerfull AoE attack though. 2 of the 3 of these are things that feral does not have that can be usefull while leveling.

[Wesche]

either one will work, I myself plan to go with feral because my gear is better, plus leader of the pack is great for survival knowing that mobs hit alot harder now so its really all about survival.

You won't be using aoe when leveling unless you plan on running back from the grave alot, pulling to many mobs will end up in you running back to your corpse alot so don't take into account the boomkin aoe abilities.

Honestly play what you want to play, whatever you enjoy more, or play what you plan to raid with.

[Krolikn]

You need other people to tell you how to level? Have you played the class for only a week? Reroll immediately.

[Melodi]

I can't say much, I was the super psycho that leveled as resto from 1-70 in their respective times. But I enjoyed it (wanted a complete change from rogue) and because I'm efficient at leveling I still beat out 95% of the server and my guild when leveling from 60-70 as resto. 70-80 I went balance for a nice change and will continue to use my boomkin offspec to level from 80-85.

[Deleted]

Since I levelled from 40-80 as boomkin on my druid I have decided to try feral for a change. (Well that and the fact I plan on rolling as feral tank and not resto in cata so I'd like a bit of practice while levelling )

[boseguy22]

Feral is really fun to level with, but if you plan to level in a group that has a lot of casters maybe look at boomkin just for the group buffs you provide. The feral (cat) from my guild is leveling with our little 5 man group, warrior tank, 2 mages and resto/ele sham. He is going boomkin just to give us all those fun extras.

[Mosack]

I've played both at least 20-30 levels each(65 now), and I must say I like Balance a lot more. Feral was so... boring, and blah. Been there done that. I don't care about the extra effectiveness of what utilities the boomkin does and does not have... the shit is dead before it even gets to me 90% of the time. I do however enjoy Lifeblooming, then pulling 10 mobs, put on Thorns and then finish them off with a Hurricane. My opinion, however, may be slightly biased as the only Melee character I've ever been able to previously "get into/enjoy" was a Warrior(all the others are just boring)

[Deleted]

Depands when you start leveling. if you join the great rush, go boomkin. otherwise all your mobs will be tagged by other players. especially other boomkins will purely outtag every mob. -> flightform -> mooonfire and you wont be able to kill any mob for yourself.

if you wait and start playing in a couple of weeks, choose what you prefer. feral is pretty neat for soloing groupquetss + tanking instances (instant invites) while balance is pretty neat for tagging, aoe fighting. also resto offspecc ist awesome for bgs and instances.pick your choice.

[Deleted]

With glyphed faerie fire and +30% runspeed it's pretty easy to tag stuff as feral. And most named mobs in cataclysm can't be tagged, they'll give credit to anyone who damages them.

[HavokHeart]

In previous expansion Feral was the best spec to level in, is this still how it will be for cata? My Ms is Feral tank and Os is Balance would balance be a better choice?

When you answer could you give your reasoning? Im prolly going to level feral since I have much better gear, but if someone has a convincing enough arguement I will use balance.

I leveld balance very easily.

[Myrrar]

Probably whatever your main spec gear was. I'll be going boomy even though feral seems more fun and I hate being a fat chicken, just already have the gear so should go a bit faster.

[Caenymh]

I've been pondering this, myself, and I'm going to level Balance simply because I'm a mainspec Resto druid and can use my healing gear to support my Balance spec without issue. Feral was my tertiary spec, so the gear is nowhere near as good.

I faced this same dilemma at the start of Wrath, and I tried to level Feral. It was fun for a while, but I found that I had a greater survivability as a Balance druid because of the gear discrepancy.

[rany]

i leveled as both since i was wearing my cloth heirloom and staff (didnt have enough jps to buy leather ones) feral is by far faster. tag 6 mobs thorn swipe swipe move on.

plus instant dugueon qs ftw

[Deleted]

tbh, either is good.

Boomkin will nuke stuff down quick as hell it'll never reach you.

Feral has zero downtime and massive survival if things go pear shaped.

Up to you, whatever you prefer.

All hardcore druids are levelling as resto of course just to prove how hard they are ^^

[Cerelli]

i leveled as balance in the beta. at the time moonkin damage hasn't been balanced and the numbers were very very low. even then i didnt have problems leveling. now that they have done a proper numbers pass leveling will be even easier with moonkin.

personally i'd use the spec with your best gear. it will be outgrown fast, but will still ease things along for the first couple of levels.