Blizzard Advisary!

[Ridere]

oh man - that sounds like so much fun ...i've got a team of 5x druids at 60 and 5x mages at 60 and have been waiting to lvl them ... not sure which one to do first ..

I was thinking frost mage with full blizzard spec + slowing effects would be pretty nasty ... have played mages, but have never played a druid. who has the stronger AOE?

Man, I'm not sure. I'll tell you the fun things I like about both, however. Including some non AoE.

Druids:

Note: This is coming from a Balance Druid spec. Some moves are talented.

• Typhoon: Large frontal AoE. Goes a good distance, does decent damage when stacked, knocks enemies back and slows movement for a bit. Awesome when followed up with...
• Hurricane: If you can get mouse broadcasting to work (I use HKN), this is a pretty powerful spell. If they are slowed at all when you cast this, they're basically dead. haha.
• Starfall: This is a talented balance ability. It rocks. Casts 20 stars that hit enemies within 30+ yards. On top of that, when the star hits, it splashes over 5 yards. You cast this, run around in a circle, and all of a sudden, they're all taking tons of damage. If you take on a particularly large group of monsters, it's no big deal. Just do a Typhoon near the beginning, and that'll soften up a lot of the monsters first, letting the extra stars attacks other players. 100 stars total when cast by all four players. There are Kill X number of Y quests where I can fly in, drop this spell, and by the time it's done, I've completed the quest. The Grizzly Hills PvP dailies come to mind. No one comes to attack you when they hear 10+ local defense alerts within the span of a few seconds. haha :P
• Treants: Not really AoE, but definitely worth noting. Treants cause so much confusion that it gives you time to get off that Hurricane spell, or any other AoE. People freak out when they see 15 trees attacking them.
• Moonfire and Insect Swarm: Provides 10 dots when using 5 druids. While not as awesome as Warlock DoTs, 10 DoTs are nothing to scoff at. Great for dotting up a few guys before moving on to more prized targets (Especially if they're running away)
• Tranquility: x5, Need I say more. Awesome raid-wide heal for downing AV bosses and such.

Mages:

Note: This is coming from a Fire Mage spec. Some moves are talented.

• Frost Nova: Good "Oh Crap" move. Keeps the enemies off of you if they get too close. Has a lame cooldown, but throw it into a cast sequence with your other mages, and it should generally be ready to go when you need it.
• Ice Lance: Instant cast damage spell with no cool down. Awesome! Damage is pretty weak. Damage x5 is less weak. Awesome spell to spam on a target you're chancing, or while on the move in general. There were many times I'd be chasing an enemy up a bunker, or tower, just spamming this spell. It's also fun to peg people as they try to run past you on mounts, if you find a nice choke point. Frost Nova them first, and the damage is like doubled, or tripled, or something. Way cool.
• Cone of Cold: Instant Cast. Decent conal AoE. Short cool down. Good for softening up targets that come into melee range before you bust out other spells.
• Dragon's Breath: Way more dangerous version of Cone of Cold. Does a lot more damage. Longer Cool Down. Disorients (I believe) Open up with this move when defending a horde tower, and it's basically game over. You can wipe up whatever is left with a few arcane explosions. This is talented under Fire, so may not work with those wanting to spec Ice. Cooldown can be manged in a cast sequence, filling in the other mages with Ice Lances, or something, to allow continuous DPS.
• Arcane Explosion: x5 this move is pretty deadly. Better if you softened them up with some other spells first (Fire Blast, Dragon's Breath, Arcane Explosion, Ice Lances). A good one to spam if on the run. You may go out in an exploding blaze of glory, but your teammates can finish off what's left.
• Flame Wave ?: The name is slipping me, but it's the talented fire AoE move, like Arcane Explosion, that also knocks targets back. This one is awesome. I have it worked into a cast sequence with Arcane Explosion. If I press Alt, they all Arcane, explosion, if I don't, one casts this spell, while the other four cast Arcane Explosion. You can just press this in a timely manner, and be particularly nasty. The knockback allows for lulz if knocking off cliffs, bridges, etc.
• Blizzard: Awesome spell. Even better if talented into the Ice Tree, I'm sure. I've no experiencing with it, myself, though. Make sure you can broadcast mouse clicks.
• Mirror Image: Haven't been able to test this one, myself, as I'm not 80, but copying images of yourself, when you already have five mages, seems to be about the coolest thing ever. I can't wait to test this.

So there's a lot of fun in either of them. Druids offer more survivability and utility. Level both for sure. Maybe just take turns. one week on one, one week on the other. Will help with your rested exp, too.

Have fun!

[daviddoran]

I think mages have more potential for mass AOE, but druids have more versatility, especially when boxing. You have a one click PASSIVE aoe dps button with starfall, in addition to treants, and hurricane... all this can add up to mass confusion, and mass death for your opponents. Also, cat form stealth is easier to manage than mages invisibility, cause you can see the enemies, rather than not seeing anything. Plus you have self HoTs, and battlerezzing, so you can hot yourself up right before the onslaught of enemies come, then unleash the fury of nature on their arses! Once I get fully switched over to ISBoxer im gonna go back to leveling my druids. They are 4 at 66 and 1 at 70, so when they are all caught up to 71, I will do AV over and over... I can't wait for stealth defending balinda... then unleashing hell when the tank is getting low....

[DyzzyD]

Area-of-Effect Damage Caps: We’ve redesigned the way area damage is capped when hitting many targets. Instead of a hard cap on total damage done, the game now caps the total damage done at a value equal to the damage the spell would do if it hit 10 targets. In other words, if a spell does 1000 damage to each target, it would hit up to 10 targets for 1000 each, but with more than 10 targets, each target would take 1000 damage divided by the number of targets. 20 targets would be hit for 500 damage each in that example.

Does this tilt towards Druids more?

[Multibocks]

Dunno who that helps, but it certainly hurts anyone trying to wipe a raid in AV =)

[heyaz]

Anyone tried both 5x mage and 5x druid at a high level? I'm thinking of making a fun aoe team, before a few of my extra RAF accounts run out (and before aoe gets nerfed).

Lot of benefits of druids it looks like... stealth would be awesome (5 tauren aren't exactly inconspicuous), and a hybrid class, and heavy armored caster... but I've always liked mage aoe's better. then again, druid aoe's hit ridiculously hard now

Only thing that scares me is zero protection against fear. If I could make undead druids, there wouldn't even be a question

[Coltimar]

I saw you again tonight, twice! First time you owned again but in the second game the chat wall about that friggn' mage boxer, lol. I think they were focusing on you :/

[Stealthy]

Anyone tried both 5x mage and 5x druid at a high level? I'm thinking of making a fun aoe team, before a few of my extra RAF accounts run out (and before aoe gets nerfed).

Lot of benefits of druids it looks like... stealth would be awesome (5 tauren aren't exactly inconspicuous), and a hybrid class, and heavy armored caster... but I've always liked mage aoe's better. then again, druid aoe's hit ridiculously hard now

Only thing that scares me is zero protection against fear. If I could make undead druids, there wouldn't even be a question

Yeah I'm running a 5 druid team amongst others, armory link here.

They are defintely a lot of fun to play, more of a run & gun playstyle as opposed to my sham's turret defense playstyle.

Their AOE is fantastic, especially with the double punch of Hurricane + Starfall.

They do have a few drawbacks though -

1. Fear - as you mentioned, outside of a tinket you have no fear protection.
2. Can be difficult to shake melee classes if they are up in your face (i.e. rogues with CLoS, warriors with Bladestorm, Pallies with BoF) - basically need to shift forms and run to a new position.
3. Lack the burst of Shamans against single targets (LvB guaranteed crit > wrath spam)

Basically these guys really shine in BG's & WG, but I wouldn't take them into Arena's.

Some of the other benefits they have:
1. You can dual-spec your main as a tank and one other as resto and you have a team you can go an run heroics with as well as pvp.
2. Instant flight form makes some quests and dailies very easy, as well as gathering herbs (don't even have to leave flight form) & mining.

Hope this helps...

Cheers,
S.

[blast3r]

I saw you again tonight, twice! First time you owned again but in the second game the chat wall about that friggn' mage boxer, lol. I think they were focusing on you :/

I could feel the hate. It invigorated me. I have been sick for the last several days and am not doing as well lately it seems. Just feeling crappy. Tell your alliance buddies I am feeling better today, though.