Druids, Druids, Druids

[Ualaa]

If you run the druids as Feral, both bears and cats have Berserk which is 15 seconds (20 glyphed) of fear immunity.
Berserk can even be used while feared, to break it.
Combine that with the 2 minute trinket, and diminishing returns on the 3rd fear directed your way...

The Resto/Boomkin just have the trinkets.

But then, look at the premiere pvp team currently... DK + 4x Ret.
They're losing defensive (friendly) dispels on Ret/Prot specs.
So they'll be in exactly the same boat.

[Boylston]

For me one of the biggest concerns is the lack of Fear immunity and burst damage reduction. On the other hand, you have a team which is very versatile. All melee, all casters, a mix.

Fear is a problem for all teams except stacked shamans. Barkskin is a pretty darn nice ability as well, and not as cumbersome as a DS+DS pally combo to have to pull off. (Also available every minute!)

I think the way to deal with fear in BGs is similar to my DK+Rets team... You prioritize killing fearbombing classes. It'll be even nicer since you can start a lot of fights from stealth and pick and choose targets better.

There are more options with ferals due to Berserk and there may also be a nice feature to silence casters better in Cataclysm. You never know.

[Ualaa]

They did mention, cat druids would get a mechanic similar to rogue kick.
Wouldn't mind setting it up, so every 2-3 seconds one of the cats is doing the kick equivalent, as part of their standard dps.

[Shodokan]

If you run the druids as Feral, both bears and cats have Berserk which is 15 seconds (20 glyphed) of fear immunity.
Berserk can even be used while feared, to break it.
Combine that with the 2 minute trinket, and diminishing returns on the 3rd fear directed your way...

The Resto/Boomkin just have the trinkets.

But then, look at the premiere pvp team currently... DK + 4x Ret.
They're losing defensive (friendly) dispels on Ret/Prot specs.
So they'll be in exactly the same boat.

There really aren't a lot of situations where i feel i need to cleanse magic anyway. Most the time all toons get feared or just my dk leader (lichborne)

[Boylston]

Here are some updates. First, what's been published:

Starfall-- Looks like the damage of Starfall's main stars is going UP, but the AoE splash component is going away. Too soon to tell what kind of impact this will have, but it might very well be a wash. Probably makes Starfall more useful vs. groups of 3-4 people and less dominating for large groups of 8-10.

Solar Beam-- New spell, we can officially talk about it now. Instant cast, 1min cooldown, ranged interrupt+AoE silence that's left at a location (10yd radius). Looks pretty dominating. One could imagine an instant-cast rotation involving moonfire/insect swarm and a Solar Beam going off every 12-15 sec or so. I also see huge potential to use this on any melee target, giving yourself a little "safe zone" so PBAoE fearbombers, mages, warlocks using hellfire, etc can't do much in your face.

Starsurge-- Another new spell. 2sec nuke with Knockdown Component! 15sec cooldown. Typhoon+Starsurge followup looks great. May also just combine this in a Wrath-based rotation so that one character is throwing out a Starsurge every 3-4 sec.

Wrath of Cenarius-- Extra damage on moonfire while moving, which you tend to do a lot in PvP. Win!

New Eclipse Mechanics-- Will be interesting to see how this plays out. I think it will be better for PvE groups with boomkin, less micro-managing Eclipse procs. For PvP, I don't think it matters much. Other than the very occasional Starfire opening salvo, I am not using anything but instants+Wrath spam in PvP.

On the whole, looks like the Balance druid BG team will continue to show a lot of promise. Devs has said some pretty good things about Starfall, leaving me optimistic that it won't be nerfed to oblivion (e.g. "it's supposed to be strong, because it can be countered",).

* * *

Play update:

Sure, I'm not 80 yet, but I thought I would give a little bit of an update about my L68 druids. They have basically all the same abilities they'd have at L80, so I think the playstyle will be similar.

In contrast to Shamans who are basically reasonably stationary + defensive + ranged attackers, and the DK+Pally melee blender that is mobile + offensive + non-mana-constrained, I find the Boomkins to a mix of mobile + ranged + defensive/crafty. What I mean by "defensive/crafty" is the combination of being able to stealth, use travel-form to haul tail when needed, cast heals while on the run, pop typhoon on people closing, barkskin, etc. Not surprisingly, multi druids plays a lot like solo druids.

I have been playing a lot of EotS and AB, since they've been the dailies lately. This team shines in that kind of BG. I typically keep my head on a swivel and try to understand where the enemy is on the battlefield. If I'm faced with 1-3 opponents/defenders, I will pick a first target which gets Insect Swarm, Moonfire, then a Typhoon to push it (and everyone near it) away. Then I'll repeat for other targets and let DoTs run rampant. Often times I will haul tail away in travel mode and not even bother with Wrath/Starfire. The idea is to be quick and never stop moving.

If faced with more, I will stealth if I can and let people clump up nicely, then go in with Starfalls blazing and typhoon anyone nearby. At this point, at L68 with non-pvp geared folks, this is just comical. I'm only running 4 druids, too, since my main is 80 and just waiting for them to catchup. With the glyph, the big Starfall combo is available once/minute, which is awesome.

If I'm wandering up to a fight where I know I'll have the cast time, I'll let a Starfire combo rip, but I usually don't use starfire much. Wrath is pretty effective if I have the chance to cast a little bit, and I try to stay mobile as much as possible. I will flee if needed, taking great care to not let PBAoE fear bombs hit the group.

I am struggling a little bit with mana issues, since MF/IS spam can quickly drain the ole blue bars, but it's easy enough to Innervate and take a break. Again, stealth is huge here!

Obviously, I have no idea how things will scale to 80, but I can see how this could work quite nicely. I think if you play it like a shammy team, you'll be disappointed. In many ways, it's more like the DK+Pallies where you have to keep moving in order to be most effective.

I haven't really PvEd at all with the team, other than dragging them on /follow behind a tank that I've been playing to clear instances. Instant flight form + northrend questing should be efficient for leveling. I will probably start doing more instances around L72-74 just so that I have a feel for the team and get all my macros worked out-- at some point I'll need to do heroics with them and I don't want to put that off for too long.

I'd love to hear more from anyone who's running 80s in BGs now or anyone who has better info on the new Starfall performance.

[Fomeny]

I sadly can't say anything about multiple starfalls, but a single one is already fairly devastating. The main problem is, that it is stopped fairly easy by Stuns or Fears. But as long as it is raining stars, you should take out everything in range with 4 druids.

[Boylston]

The starfall range is awesome. Being able to time/place yourself well using Stealth is also amazing.

Again, I have worries about performance at 80/85, but I am very impressed with using it with 4 druids as I am leveling in BGs.

[BrothelMeister]

http://cata.wowhead.com/talent#0VhboZZbxczb

What about something like this for a feral team?

It has Solar beam to silence enemy healers, even when you are standing on them, with the good resto talents still, and 52 pts to spare for feral abilites

[Fomeny]

I wouldn't worry about Cataclysm until it's out. Even after the release, there will still be tons of tweaks to many abilities/talents.

If you are Nightelf, try this Macro:

/cast Starfall
/cast Shadowmeld

If you were in cat-stealth previously, they won't know where you are, but the stars will still fall and kill.

[Boylston]

I wouldn't worry about Cataclysm until it's out. Even after the release, there will still be tons of tweaks to many abilities/talents.

If you are Nightelf, try this Macro:

/cast Starfall
/cast Shadowmeld

If you were in cat-stealth previously, they won't know where you are, but the stars will still fall and kill.

I have too much self-respect to play Night Elves.

I plan to have Trolls, long-term...