I'm now leveling my remaining 40's Horde alts (Tauren Druid, Orc Shaman, and Undead Warlock) just for fun using only a full week's rested bonus (equal to ~ 1 level at 200% experience gains). The other time is reserved for some highend experiments with my level 60 Night Elf Druid, i.e. fighting all possible end-50's and 60's elite monsters solo to find out the limits of the Druid class.
Anyway, the 40's alts will be played equally to see if one of them has a significant advantage over the others, and from what I can see so far after playing each class two levels from 40 to 42 is that the Druid definitely has NOT an advantage. The Druid (Feral spec) has become stronger since patch 1.8 in terms of DPS and survivability, but my Orc Shaman as well as my Undead Warlock still do A LOT more DPS when played solo. My Warlock is the DPS king of the three, and the price for that power - like the Shaman - is a higher downtime where he must drink Mana (the same goes for Mages, btw). So, what you are noticing with respect to the Druid - although he has much lower DPS than i.e. the Warlock - is that he is just better balanced overall with almost zero downtime if played right as Feral Druid. This gives you the FEELING that he's very strong while in fact he is not. The other classes, i.e. Shaman, Warlocks and Mages, are just badly balanced with the constant ups and downs of very strong DPS vs. long downtimes. Consider the Druid the best balanced class and best solo class since patch 1.8, and he has set the mark for the other classes. Time for Blizzard to get back to work on the others :)
Anyway, the 40's alts will be played equally to see if one of them has a significant advantage over the others, and from what I can see so far after playing each class two levels from 40 to 42 is that the Druid definitely has NOT an advantage. The Druid (Feral spec) has become stronger since patch 1.8 in terms of DPS and survivability, but my Orc Shaman as well as my Undead Warlock still do A LOT more DPS when played solo. My Warlock is the DPS king of the three, and the price for that power - like the Shaman - is a higher downtime where he must drink Mana (the same goes for Mages, btw). So, what you are noticing with respect to the Druid - although he has much lower DPS than i.e. the Warlock - is that he is just better balanced overall with almost zero downtime if played right as Feral Druid. This gives you the FEELING that he's very strong while in fact he is not. The other classes, i.e. Shaman, Warlocks and Mages, are just badly balanced with the constant ups and downs of very strong DPS vs. long downtimes. Consider the Druid the best balanced class and best solo class since patch 1.8, and he has set the mark for the other classes. Time for Blizzard to get back to work on the others :)
"Man only plays when in the full meaning of the word he is a man, and he is only completely a man when he plays." -- Friedrich von Schiller