My thoughts on the druid... (leaving out PvP comments for now).
One saying commonly spouted is that while the shaman is the jack of all trades, the druid is jack of one trade at a time...
Pretty good healers? Sure. Somewhat different style of healing than a priest though, with a lack of a short cast heal and a untimered group heal. A good druid can reliably heal any of the 5-man instances, or a couple druids for 10-man UBRS. However, lack of an untimered resurrection means have either a paladin or shaman around, or don't ever wipe.
Pretty good tanks? Not too bad. Can get some really high AC to help compensate for a lack of block/parry, but obviously don't have the skills to generate agro like a warrior. Can tank any of the 5-man instances... never tried a UBRS group without at least one warrior around, but I can't see why a druid couldn't do it either. Require some more care on the part of the party in pulling agro. (Any feral specced druids care to comment on the usage of the higher agro generating bear faerie fire?).
Nukes? Sorta... decent single target damage with long cast starfire, and you can get fairly high DPS with improved wrath (shortened cast time) and +nature/+damage gear.
Cat form? Can pull off some okay cat damage as well (1/3 of a rogues maybe, 1/2 if really well geared), but lacks the stuns and extra skills. Definitely one of the weaker sides of the class though.
So the druid ends up being 2nd choice healer (can't always say 2nd best, since skill has a pretty big impact in this area... maybe someone with a 60 of both classes could comment on it), 2nd choice tank (probably could say 2nd best, due to lack of agro-generating skills, but do have taunts for instant agro pull), and lower down in the DPS department. Oftentimes what I see is if you need a healer or tank and can't get a priest or warrior, then you'll call on a druid (stealth runs aside). Hardly ever is a druid called upon to be damage dealing; I see it only within guild runs. Thus one can ask the question, if you have a priest or warrior, why take a druid? Some argue for backup, if one falls the druid can step in, or if things go bad and you need a 2nd of something, he's there... (so could a paladin in many cases, assuming they're geared with a large enough mana pool, which often isn't the case...) Truthfully, I'm not sure if I can answer this question.
In the 40-man raids, you'll have many of each class, and each one basically ends up doing a few specialized things... be you druid or mage or whatever. For the druid it's MotW, heal, decurse, innervate, combat rez (though I suppose it's better than the paladin's constant rebuffing, and heal + cleanse). There is one balance druid in our MC group though, and he typically ends up in the top 10 for damage (those dratted damage meters, I hate 'em!), and can backup heal when needed. I was going to tank one of Sulfuron's guards once when we were short a warrior, but my ISP decided to cut out right after they pulled, so never got that chance *cries*...
One saying commonly spouted is that while the shaman is the jack of all trades, the druid is jack of one trade at a time...
Pretty good healers? Sure. Somewhat different style of healing than a priest though, with a lack of a short cast heal and a untimered group heal. A good druid can reliably heal any of the 5-man instances, or a couple druids for 10-man UBRS. However, lack of an untimered resurrection means have either a paladin or shaman around, or don't ever wipe.
Pretty good tanks? Not too bad. Can get some really high AC to help compensate for a lack of block/parry, but obviously don't have the skills to generate agro like a warrior. Can tank any of the 5-man instances... never tried a UBRS group without at least one warrior around, but I can't see why a druid couldn't do it either. Require some more care on the part of the party in pulling agro. (Any feral specced druids care to comment on the usage of the higher agro generating bear faerie fire?).
Nukes? Sorta... decent single target damage with long cast starfire, and you can get fairly high DPS with improved wrath (shortened cast time) and +nature/+damage gear.
Cat form? Can pull off some okay cat damage as well (1/3 of a rogues maybe, 1/2 if really well geared), but lacks the stuns and extra skills. Definitely one of the weaker sides of the class though.
So the druid ends up being 2nd choice healer (can't always say 2nd best, since skill has a pretty big impact in this area... maybe someone with a 60 of both classes could comment on it), 2nd choice tank (probably could say 2nd best, due to lack of agro-generating skills, but do have taunts for instant agro pull), and lower down in the DPS department. Oftentimes what I see is if you need a healer or tank and can't get a priest or warrior, then you'll call on a druid (stealth runs aside). Hardly ever is a druid called upon to be damage dealing; I see it only within guild runs. Thus one can ask the question, if you have a priest or warrior, why take a druid? Some argue for backup, if one falls the druid can step in, or if things go bad and you need a 2nd of something, he's there... (so could a paladin in many cases, assuming they're geared with a large enough mana pool, which often isn't the case...) Truthfully, I'm not sure if I can answer this question.
In the 40-man raids, you'll have many of each class, and each one basically ends up doing a few specialized things... be you druid or mage or whatever. For the druid it's MotW, heal, decurse, innervate, combat rez (though I suppose it's better than the paladin's constant rebuffing, and heal + cleanse). There is one balance druid in our MC group though, and he typically ends up in the top 10 for damage (those dratted damage meters, I hate 'em!), and can backup heal when needed. I was going to tank one of Sulfuron's guards once when we were short a warrior, but my ISP decided to cut out right after they pulled, so never got that chance *cries*...
Onyxia:
Kichebo - 85 NE Druid
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.
Kichebo - 85 NE Druid
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons, for you are crunchy and taste good with ketchup.