Originally Posted by
Segus1992
So in an expansion where Warriors get Shield Block, Spell Reflect, Ignore Pain, Challenging Shout, and Paladins get Shield of the Righteous, Word of Glory, Blessing of Sacrifice, Auras, etc - in order to allow many classes to be more effective at their off roles for fringe situations, you'd think Druids (the class that was nothing if not a hybrid originally) would get even more.
Instead, the baseline Druid has almost nothing more than what they have in BFA, with the buffs to affinities entirely about increased utility in your primary form rather than stronger hybrid capabilities.
Even then, you have to choose an affinity to even be close to the hybridness all Druids used to have with all forms, whereas other classes are getting close to what they had, and in some cases even more than what was originally there. A Druid in Bear Form with Guardian Affinity is comparable to a baseline Fury Warrior if tanking for short periods, has to spend a GCD to get into Bear Form, and has given up any other off-role capabilities to do so.
Heart of the Wild is a great addition, which allows you to become a stronger hybrid than any other for a good while - but only for your chosen affinity. You still don't have any other capabilities, and it has a very long CD.
Just seems strange to me that Shadowlands - the expansion where class design seems to be entirely about bringing back an earlier edition of the classes - doesn't do more to bring that feeling back for Druid.
At this point, giving all affinities baseline (the way they are in BFA, not with the CC abilities in SL) while maybe nerfing the passives a little, and making HotW work for any form rather than just your selected one, wouldn't do much to make Druids OP, but would bring the old hybrid feeling back strong.