Druid, Monk, Shaman, the "nature" classes. Which one?

[SwizzleTweets]

Looking from the Pandaria perspective\culture, I think that Monk are like Paladin, and Shaman are like Priest.

Priest go about their church in Stormwind City.
Shaman go about their temple in Pandaria.

Paladin are out on the front field as an enforcer of the light.
Monk are out on the front field as an enforcer of balance?

[Raugnaut]

MW monks don't have too much lore at all. From what I understand, they utilize the healing power of the mists. From what I can tell, its somewhat akin to shamanism, except instead of using the pure-water based healing of shamans, they use the healing power of the water in the air, or mists. They do have very noticeable spell effects, mostly that smoothing mists/crackling jade lightning. Complete lost in the lore as how they heal isn't explained easily. Nice effects.

Shamans have quite a bit of lore. However, there is much more unknown about shamans then there is known. What exactly IS an elemental spirit, compared to an elemental? Who was the first Shaman? Why does the elements even care about shamans? ect, ect. Not many answered questions. As for spell effects, the big totems, chain heal, healing raid gives them some noticable effects. IMO, lore below druids, above monks, spell effects above druids, below monks.

Finally, druids. There is not a single bit of unknown lore about the druids. Malfurion was the first druid. Later on, Cenarious taught druidism to the Taurens. Troll druids are based off what some witch doctors learned while hiding about in animal forms on the echo isles. And worgen druid were originally nature witches that mucked about with plants. NE/Tauren druids were personally taught by cenarious, and had access to all 4 druid specs. Worgen druids started out as pure-resto druid, and learned the other schools of druidism from night elves, with some smarter ones learning the feral path from turning into worgen. Troll druids started out as feral druids, and learned the resto/balance trees from tauren.

So, yea, Druids have fully-developed lore, there are no unasked questions in the druid field. As for spell effects, the only noticable spell effects they have is effloresence, and tranquility. All other forms of healing can't be noticed with a birds-eye view, which is how i tend to play so i can see fire better.

[Teriz]

People are forgetting that the Monk class is heavily tied to the 4 Pandarean Celestials. There's a lot of lore there.

[NickCageFanatic]

Lore: Druids
Pretty spell effects: Monk
Red headed step child you dont want to mess with when they have full CDs: Shaman

[Deleted]

Shaman go about their temple in Pandaria.

...what? Shamans are nothing like priests. No "temples". Just no.

OT: Druid I guess. Even though I play a shaman.

[jjuice32]

Druids are the more nature class and probably have the most fleshed out Lore.

[MrHappy]

Druid - Nature. Druids harness the vast powers of nature to preserve balance and protect life.
Shaman - Elements Earth Air Water Fire
Monk - Chi/Chakra inner balance

if you want Nature aspect the only one is Druid.

[TheWindWalker]

Monks aren't really all that "nature bound" beyond calling on life energy to exert their will. I'd give it to Shamans for being universal whereas Druids that we play are rigidly religious to whatever gives them the powers and thus restricted in scope.

(Still waiting for the day someone reveals Druids are just Shamans of 'The Wild.'")

monk lore haha that was a good joke

Druid.

Oh look. Someone who refuses to read of listen and instead pretend lore for something is "a joke." At least I got a laugh out of that.

[Windfury]

Druids have the most fleshed out lore in the game, largely due to the well of eternity/stormrage books. Shaman are probably second overall though due to the focus on Thrall/Orcs.

[Stonecloak]

Monk could be considered nature. They don't use nature magic, but it is about the balance of natural forces.

[Aydinx2]

Which one of them do you think has the best backstory or lore?
And which one has the prettiest spell effects when healing?

Shamans don't actually use nature, they use the elements.
Many people seem to forget that Nature is plants + life (which is Ysera's backyard). Shamans use the elements, which seem like nature but are not actually it.
It's like saying the tomato's on a pizza are "pizza's". The elements are part of the whole but definately not it.

Monk's use nature the least of the 3 classes. They do have abilities like "soothing mists" but that's like saying a warrior's shout is a nature abilities because it uses sound which is basicly just moving air.

TL;DR: The only ingame class that uses nature are Druids.

[Seezer]

Shaman has by far the best healing spell effects. Not even a contest.

Yeah, dat healing rain so cool.

- - - Updated - - -

Druids for lore and druids for effects.

[malekt2]

def druids , they are so much in depth in the lore and i think resto druids have the prettiest spells

[Arberian]

Best lore - shaman probably.
Prettiest spell effects - definitely Monk.

Best lore shamans?! I wouldnt say so.. Druids have defended for years Mount Hyjal , and the World Tree... Their leader is a Demigod (Cenarius , son of Elune and Malorne) :P !

[Wyrt]

Looking from the Pandaria perspective\culture, I think that Monk are like Paladin, and Shaman are like Priest.

Priest go about their church in Stormwind City.
Shaman go about their temple in Pandaria.

Paladin are out on the front field as an enforcer of the light.
Monk are out on the front field as an enforcer of balance?

Pretty sure both paladins and monks can serve as priests in addition to being able to fight. In fact, that's the whole point of paladins.

[apepi]

Druid is based on the environment. There is quite a bit of types of druid, the nature ones that most of us know, the aquatic types and even more for each environment.

Shaman deal with the elements that make the environment to create a balance of the all with the help of the spirits.

For monks it is a bit iffy. It has been shown that they do share a connection to the emerald dream(like the celestials and the timeless isle does), like druids do. They also have a connection to the mist(which I think has to do with the emerald dream), which is how they control the mist. Like how the Emperor Shaohao used the mist to conceal Pandaria. Chi is a energy from yourself(the monk), which may be balance between the light and dark. Monks use emotions and spiritual balance to create that, they idolize there celestials that represent these values. A bit of this is a bit of my own theory but it is the best that we got to explain it.

And I am going to throw another hat into the ring....
Hunters, they are a nature type to. They are like druid, animal based, but instead of chaining into the animal, the learn from them and apply it to themselves. While druids just change themselves to the fit the animal.

[Deleted]

Shamans work with the elements and spirits.
Monks (at least the ones that aren't busy throwing beers or doing kung fu) are spiritual and have an understanding of herbs and their medical properties.
Druids however, are one with nature. Shamans have very interresting lore as well, but as far as nature goes- No contest.

[Falu]

I reckon, Monks do not have a very deep link to nature per say, they have a very deep connection with their inner balance, and draw inspiration from nature's balance around them.
When that balance is broken or disturbed, they bring it back from within themselves to the environment.
In that regard, I think the Monk's link to nature, is a rather phylosophical one, based on personal interpretation, and admiration of it, rather than actually using it as a source of power.

Shamans on the other hand, actively wield the power of Elements, and those in turn, shape and effect the world, and nature... they are wind, they are water, they are fire, they are earth: Shamans manipulate these raw powers, which in turn make the world around us grow and change.

Druids, are more like nature themselves, they change with it, they make it grow, they feel it's pain and of it's animal dwellers.
Druids are nature's guardians, they do not manipulate it as Shamans do, they merge with it.

Personally, for gameplay and lore reasons, my favorite class (and my main), is the Shaman.
I do like Monks and Restoration Druids though.