Druid

Not to be confused with elven druid.

For related articles, see Category:Druids.

Classes
Class races	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Ev	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Quests	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Abilities	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Trainers	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Armor sets	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	Evuid	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Useful macros	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior
Class Halls	Death Knight	Demon Hunter	Druid	-	Hunter	Mage	Monk	Paladin	Priest	Rogue	Shaman	Warlock	Warrior

The Druid is a shapeshifting hybrid class, and is also one of the most versatile classes in the game. As with other hybrids, Druids need to specialize to be most effective in any role. Due to their need to shapeshift to fulfill roles, they can only perform one role at a time; they must switch between the different shapes to adapt to changing situations.

Overview

A druid can fulfil any of the three roles through their three talent trees and appropriate gearing: Tank in [Bear Form]; Damage in [Moonkin Form] or [Cat Form]; and Healer in Restoration or "Resto Druid" forms. Druids can switch between some forms in combat, making them uniquely flexible in both PvE and PvP, though, due to gear and talent differences, "in-combat off-spec" can only temporarily fill in for a missing skill. Whilst hybrids are not designed to cause as much damage as "pure" damage dealers such as Mages, Warlocks, Hunters and Rogues this ability can often "save the day" in the last minutes of a boss fight if the tank dies and a druid switches to Bear form from Cat form or when the healer runs out of mana and a Moonkin form drops to humanoid form and lobs an [Innervate] and off-heals until they recover. Likewise in PvP, a caster can lob a Heal over time, switch to Travel form and [Mana Burn] becomes futile. They also have a poison and curse-cleansing spell and a range of utility spells like various travel forms, crowd control (albeit weak and easily broken), and a group buff [Mark of the Wild]. Their resurrection spell [Rebirth] is the only resurrection spell that can be cast on any player whilst in combat, offset by its 10-minute cool-down and only being able to use it once in a given boss-fight (shared with Shaman [Reincarnation] and Warlock [Soulstone] resurrections). They also have a regular resurrection spell [Revive] which can save dead party or raid members a long run back from the Graveyard.

Balance Druids specialize in damage spells and an additional [Moonkin Form], turning them into an efficient ranged spellcaster that is somewhere between a mage and a shadow priest in play style, in the equivalent of mail armor. They excel at nuking single targets as well as providing effective off-healing and crowd-control support. With the Wrath of the Lich King expansion providing them very effective multiple-target spells, they are now nearly on a par with any of the other casting classes. Their damage can be variable, due to the [Eclipse] mechanic - a unique scale where they will use Nature spells such as [Wrath] or Arcane spells such as [Starfall] to get back to before the mid-point of the start or end of the Eclipse Bar, where their damage is greatly increased.

The Feral tree enhances both of the Druid's melee forms, allowing them to tank and melee DPS more efficiently. The Talents in this tree usually enhance both forms; however some talents separate the two roles, and gear also makes a difference. [Bear Form] provides armor and health similar to a warrior and [Cat Form] has damaging special moves similar to a rogue; with the ability to heal themselves to boot. Lack of downtime between fights and flexibility in their armor and DPS are their strong points. Since they still have all of the core Druid abilities and use very little mana, they make excellent support casters as well, even if they have chosen the path of melee DPS.

Restoration Druids take points in improving their healing spells and an additional Tree of Life Form. Restoration Druids have by far the best heal-over-time also known as HoT spells of all healing classes, effectively allowing them to continue healing while incapacitated, and have one multiple-target healing spell. In addition, the mobility offered by their heal-over-time spells makes them especially effective in PvP, though the duration of these HoTs was reduced in patch 4.0.1 to no longer outlast a stun. This, together with their excellent mana efficiency and in-combat resurrection ability, makes them an effective healing class.

For an in-depth look at the talents, please see the Druid talent analysis page.

Pros and Cons of Playing a Druid

A properly geared Druid, with an effective Talent tree, is capable of fulfilling any role, sometimes better than the class that there made to mimic. Druid players need to be aware that this versatility also bears a danger — it may be difficult to keep focused when gathering gear. While a rogue may have to change weapons when they change specification, they can have the same gear for each one, while a druid has completely different gear for Restoration and Feral. In order to truly fulfil a hybrid role, Druids require several complete sets of gear (as well as resistance sets for PvP). This is expensive in time, bag space, and gold. Druids often also encounter doubt from less-experienced players that a class can actually be that flexible, though Burning Crusade and Blizzard's official endorsement of the Druid as one of their 'tapped' tanking classes has helped legitimize the Druid class as something other than a healer. Indeed, it is not uncommon for a Feral Druid in a group or raid to vary their role from encounter to encounter, moving from main tank to off-tank to melee DPS to healing or caster, and do them all successfully. It is even possible for this to happen during a single fight; however, the inability to switch specs or armor in combat means the Druid must usually pick their primary role before each encounter.

Druids used to be quite uncommon because many players found them difficult to level, while others proclaim them the best soloing class in the game. Since the Wrath of the Lich King expansion, the Druid population has received a big boost. Unlike most other hybrid classes, a Druid does not begin with some abilities in each domain; instead they acquire utterly new abilities when they advance to specific levels. Thus a Druid is only complete at comparatively high levels. This can make the very early game for the Druid more difficult than for other classes. However, once mastered, the Druid is one of the most formidable classes in the game with much to contribute to any group, and can be extremely rewarding and enjoyable to play.

Another nice feature of Druids is their ability to travel faster which is VERY important for PvP, and survival during questing.

At level 16, Druids gain Aquatic Form allowing them to breathe and travel at a 50% increased speed underwater (100% increased speed with [Glyph of Aquatic Form]).
At level 16, Travel Form is gained, 40% faster than normal run speed. Travel Form can be cast in combat, making it a great escape tool when things go bad. It can also be increased to 55% speed with feral PvP gear.
At level 21, two Talent points can be put into Feral Swiftness making cat form 30% faster than normal running speed. (Dash can boost this for 15 sec, up to 100% with the talent at lvl 65).
At level 60, [Flight Form] becomes available from your druid trainer for use in Outland, or Azeroth with Cataclysm and training. It is much cheaper than buying a flying mount, though, like Paladin and Warlock mounts, training other spells costs more than other classes. This form is just as fast as a normal flying mount, but has the additional advantage of being an instant-cast spell, allowing the Druid to gain flight in situations other classes cannot. An example of this would be to avoid falling damage (if not in combat) by shifting to flight before hitting the ground, making it possible for them to kill people mid-air (providing they are out of combat before hitting the ground!). However it is limited to the basic speed and cannot be affected by any enchants, buffs or perks.
At level 70, after purchasing Artisan Riding (5000g) and visiting their trainer, Druids gain [Swift Flight Form], which is as fast as an epic flying mount, and has zero cast time.

The ability to re-specify to completely different roles makes Druids a smart and flexible class choice; if you are tired of performing one task, you need not create another character to fulfil another role; you simply re-specify to a new one, at little cost and considerably less effort.

Background

Cenarius1 — Cenarius instructs Malfurion, Tyrande, and Illidan.

We are the preservers of the balance, now and forever, as Malfurion lies in the Dreaming. Never forget this. - Kal of Dolanaar

Druids are keepers of the world who walk the path of nature, following the wisdom of the Ancients and Cenarius, healing and nurturing the world. To a druid, nature is a delicate balance of actions, in which even the smallest imbalance can create storming turmoil from peaceful skies. Druids draw their power from this wild energy, using it to change their shapes and command the forces of nature.^[1] Traditionally druids chose the path of a specific animal totem. Since the invasion of the Burning Legion, however, most druids have undergone a number of reforms, including encouraging the study of magic from all totems. Druids who do this are known as druids of the wild.^[2]

History

According to tauren mythology, Cenarius instructed them first in druidism as recounted in their myth Forestlord and the First Druids. As it stands the night elves claim the first druid with Malfurion Stormrage, an idea challenged by the tauren beliefs. He would lead the night elves through the War of the Ancients and the long years that followed. With the creation of the World Tree Nordrassil, the kaldorei druids were bound to Ysera, and her realm, the Emerald Dream, in which they spent centuries of their immortal lives. The Cenarion Circle was formed as the governing society of druids, based in sacred Moonglade.

Locked in slumber in their barrow dens for generations, the druids awoke to meet the threat of the Burning Legion during its recent invasion. After Archimonde's defeat, the druids chose to remain in the waking world and help to rebuild their shattered lands. The Legion's attack left a terrible scar on the natural order, and the druids seek to heal it.

The night elf druids were recently joined in the Cenarion Circle by the tauren druids. It is not clear from the current game content if the tauren learned druidism separately from the night elves or if they were taught by the night elves. Conflicting information in the Warcraft universe further exacerbates the confusion. Either way, the tauren and the night elf druids do not participate in the Alliance/Horde conflict, but coexist peacefully within the Cenarion Circle.

Cenarius is the patron entity of all druids. However, each group of druids has its own special patrons and some even have the ability to transform into a being that looks like their patron. Many druids will take on an animal companion based on their patron.

Druids belong to many different organizations or types including the Cenarion Circle, Cenarion Expedition, Druids of the Claw, Druids of the Talon, Druids of the Wild, Druids of the Fang, Druids of the Antler, Druids of the Grove and Druids of the Scythe.^{[citation needed]}

Warcraft Encyclopedia

Druids come and go as they please, and their goals typically have little to do with the "civilized" world. Unaffiliated with any specific government, the primary druidic organization on Azeroth, the Cenarion Circle, answers to no one save itself. The highest rank that a druid can have is that of archdruid, and there are only a few archdruids on Azeroth. At the moment the Cenarion Circle's leader is Archdruid Malfurion Stormrage, also the first mortal druid on Azeroth.

Strengths, Abilities, and Underlying Motivations

Through their deep connection to life and nature, druids are able to take on an unusually large variety of roles. Probably a druid's best-known role is that of a healer. Druids are justly famed for their ability to restore life, cure poisonous wounds, and remove curses. Indeed, restoring and protecting the planet is one of the top priorities for all druids. Still, to regard a druid as merely a healer is a dangerously simplistic assumption that has led to the defeat of many an unwary foe.

File:WOW5Y - Druid of the Claw concept.jpg

A druid's empathy with the creatures of the wild also allows him to shapeshift into the forms of other animals. For example, a wounded druid whose magical energies are running low might abruptly take on the form of a bear in order to better withstand further injury. Alternatively, the druid might shift into the form of some large cat, sneak up behind an enemy, then pounce and deliver a fierce flurry of melee attacks. Even the deepest oceans can be explored by a druid, who can simply shift into an aquatic creature, allowing him to stay underwater as long as needed.

Until the end of the Third War, druids periodically visited the Emerald Dream to monitor the ebb and flow of life on Azeroth. Today such a visit has become more difficult due to Nordrassil's poor health. Druids possess a deep understanding of the way in which all living things depend upon one another. Whenever this delicate equilibrium is disrupted, the druid works to restore the balance. To that end, a druid can use his connection with the Emerald Dream to exert a calming influence over animals, even forcing some into a temporary state of hibernation. Just as the druid can wield peace and somnolence, however, the druid can tap into the fury of nature itself. Terrible storms have responded to a druid's call. Thorns have sprouted from the druid's skin to wound his attackers. Even previously harmless roots have grown up out of the soil at greatly accelerated speeds in order to entangle a foe.

Notable druids

Name	Role	Status	Location
Broll Bearmantle	Archdruid of the Night Elves	Alive	Cenarion Enclave, Darnassus
Cenarius	Lord of the Forest	Resurrected	Gates of Sothann, Mount Hyjal
Remulos	Keeper of Moonglade	Alive	Shrine of Remulos, Moonglade
Hamuul Runetotem	Archdruid of the Tauren	Alive	Elder Rise, Thunder Bluff
Fandral Staghelm	Traitor / Prisoner	Alive	Stormrage Barrow Dens Prison
Malfurion Stormrage	Leader of All Druids	Alive	Temple of the Moon, Darnassus
Zaetar	Father of the Centaur	Deceased	Spirit in the Emerald Dream

Races

Main article: Druid races

File:Tauren Druid.jpg

A female tauren Druid.

The Druid class is the most limited class concerning races. Only two races per faction can become a Druid:

	Strength	Agility	Stamina	Intellect	Spirit	Armor	Health	Mana
Night elf	17	24	20	22	22	48	54	100
Worgen	24	22	20	18	21	61	54	68
Tauren	26	16	21	18	24	32	65	68
Troll	22	22	21	18	23	24	54	68

Armor and weapons

See also: Druid sets

Druids are able to wear cloth and leather armor only. Druids start out with different weapons depending on race. Druids can fight with a stave, dagger, staff, one-handed mace, two-handed mace, fist weapon and polearm.

Druids cannot use shields (but in bear form their armor, dodge, and other mitgation eliminate the necessity), and they cannot dual wield. "Held in off-hand" items can still be used. This leads to Druids using either a two-handed weapon, or a 1H + off-hand item. Many druids will use Polearms or Staffs.

Shapeshifting

The Druid's most notable ability is shapeshifting into different forms. All the forms are obtained from the trainer and can no longer be obtained with quests.

Form		Level	Effect
	Humanoid Form	Level 1	Druid's natural state. Capable of casting all Druid spells using mana, without limitation on school. Also known as "caster form."
Cat Form	[Cat Form]	Level 8	Can do Melee DPS and has a [Stealth] mode similar to Rogue class. The Night Elf version has the appearance of a lynx, and the Tauren version has the appearance of a lion.
	[Bear Form]	Level 15	Can tank or off tank the way a Warrior does. Increase in Armor designed to make leather emulate Mail armor.
Aquatic Form	[Aquatic Form]	Level 16	Increases swim speed by 50% and allows underwater breathing. Has the appearance of a sea lion or seal. May only be used while swimming.
Travel Form	File:Ability Druid TravelForm.png [Travel Form]	Level 16	Gives a 40% run speed increase. Looks like a cheetah. May only be used outdoors.
	[Moonkin Form]	10 points in balance talents	A spellcasting form that gives nearby party members an additional 5% critical chance to spells cast. In Moonkin form The Druid is considered to be Humanoid While still immune to Polymorph and similar spells, can be affected by other abilities targeted at Humanoids such as [Sap].
	[Incarnation: Tree of Life]	30 points in restoration talents	This form transforms the Druid into a Tree of Life for 30 seconds that increases healing by 15%. In Tree of Life form: The Druid is considered to be an Elemental Is vulnerable to Elemental-dependent spells such as [Banish]. Only healing spells, and a few others, can be cast.
	[Flight Form]	Level 60	This form transforms the Druid into a flight form increasing movement speed by 150% (equal to regular flying mounts). Can be used in Outland, Northrend (with [Cold Weather Flying]), and Azeroth (with [Flight Master's License]). Riding enhancements, such as Enchant Gloves - Riding Skill, [Riding Crop] and the Guild Perk [Mount Up] do not affect speed. Cannot be used in combat. Gives the appearance of a Storm crow.
	[Swift Flight Form]	Level 70	Increases movement speed by 280% (equal to epic flying mounts). Requires a riding skill of 300. If you already possess a 310% speed mount at the time of patch 3.2, or complete the meta achievement What A Long, Strange Trip It's Been, your Swift Flight Form's speed will increase to 310%. Can be used in Outland, Northrend (with [Cold Weather Flying]), and Azeroth (with [Flight Master's License]). Riding enhancements, such as Enchant Gloves - Riding Skill, [Riding Crop] and the Guild Perk [Mount Up] do not affect speed. Cannot be used in combat.

For all forms, the following applies:

The Druid is immune to polymorph in all forms except the default, humanoid form.
Switching from polymorphed humanoid to another form breaks polymorph.
Shapeshifting also breaks all movement-impairing effects (like Slow or [Hamstring]) and roots ( [Frost Nova] or [Entangling Roots]) except the 3-second daze that can proc when one is attacked from behind by a melee attack.
Depending on the form, the Druid is considered either humanoid (Caster and Moonkin), beast (Travel, Aquatic, Bear, Dire Bear, and Cat), or elemental (Tree of Life); and thus is vulnerable (or immune) to different spells. This also applies to being tracked.
Shapes are not buffs or magical effects, thus they may not be dispelled.

For a full list of Druid Feral form abilities, see Druid abilities. While shapeshifted into Bear, Dire Bear, Cat, Aquatic, Travel, or Flight Form:

The Druid is considered a Beast.
Mana regeneration still continues at the same speed as out of the form.
Mana-reducing abilities such as [Mana Burn] have no effect while in Bear, Dire Bear, and Cat forms (valuable in PvP);
[Viper Sting] will continue to tick. It can however be removed as it is a poison.
Weapons with a "Chance on hit" effect as well as "Chance on hit" enchants such as Enchant Weapon - Crusader and Enchant Weapon - Lifestealing will now proc. "Chance on hit" effects built into armor pieces (as opposed to weapons), such as the [Shattered Sun Pendant of Might]'s proc also work as of 3.02.
Weapon DPS and weapon +damage enchants have no effect, however, armor enchants such as the [Enchant Ring - Striking] enchant, and armor pieces such as the [Crystalforged Trinket] that boost weapon damage do work. The bonus damage from Weightstones and Sharpening Stones also does work. Weapon enchants that boost stats such as Attack Power and Agility rather than weapon damage also work.
Items with an "Equip: When hit ..." do work in forms. Some examples of these items are the [Naglering] and [Darkmoon Card: Wrath]'s damage, [Green Whelp Armor] sleep and [Shattered Sun Pendant of Resolve] proc.
Weapon skill with the equipped weapon has no effect. Instead, the natural weapons always have the maximum weapon skill for their level.

Shapeshifting and Disguises

If you shapeshift while wearing any disguise, your form buff will remove the disguise buff. This is because it has a blanket effect and can cause unexpected bugs when two buffs are stacked. Items like the [Noggenfogger Elixir] were changed in 2007 to not stack with Druid forms so that it would not cause any future problems. Subsequent issues have arisen, such as the jet-pack required for Gunship Battle, giving the message "Cannot use whilst shape-shifted". This can make completing some achievements more challenging for feral and balance druids, such as [With a Little Helper from My Friends], requiring creative thinking such as spending the battles as a gunner in Wintergrasp.

Customised Feral Forms

There are five different designs for each of these forms for both Horde and Alliance. Druids can change their [Cat Form] and [Bear Form] design at any time by visiting a barbershop, Night Elves changing their character's hair color, and Taurens switching skin tones. Since there are more hair colors and skin tones than unique form designs, some colors and tones will produce the same designs. The hair and skin colors chosen will, in most cases, correspond to the colors seen in the design of each form. Some similar colors that may share a particular cat texture will not necessarily share the same bear texture.

Tauren Bear Form
Tauren Cat Form
Night Elf Bear Form
Night Elf Cat Form
Troll Bear Form
Troll Cat Form
Worgen Bear Form
Worgen Cat Form
Corresponding skin tones for Taurens.

Patch changes

As of Patch 3.2

If you already possess a 310% speed mount, your Swift Flight Form's speed will increase to 310%
Druids are able to customize the appearance of their Feral forms.^[3]

Spells

Main article: Druid abilities

In addition to healing spells, Druids also have excellent buffs. They also have a number of damage spells, making them (if properly geared and with proper talent point allocation) just as powerful, though less versatile in the damage dealing department than mages or warlocks.

Talents

See also: Druid talent analysis

Druid talents are split into three categories:

Balance - for spellcasting damage.
Feral combat - for tanking like a warrior ( [Bear Form]/ [Dire Bear Form]) and melee damage dealing like a rogue ( [Cat Form]).
Restoration - for healing with mainly hots.

It is important to note that each Druid talent tree contains some talents which are useful if specializing in one of the other trees. For example, some Feral Combat talents modify maximum mana; some Balance talents reduce the cost of healing spells, while others are helpful for the Feral forms.

Good talent calculators can be found here: Official Blizzard site, Wowhead, ThottBot and WoWTal.

End-game expectations

While before the Burning Crusade expansion most Druids were healers in the end game, new itemization and talents have made Druids of any talent specialization viable in the end game and raids.

Entangling Roots gives Druids the ability to provide reliable crowd control on melee targets.

There is no class better at healing over time than restoration Druids. In raid encounters, where there is a lot of movement and cast times are often interrupted, a Druid is quite effective in healing due to the instant-cast nature of their HoTs, enabling spells to be cast on the run. In arenas, Resto Druid teams are particularly feared by many due to the Druid's ability to quickly cast HoT's on both partner and self, and the ability to keep out of harm's way with Travel Form, effectively kiting most opponents.

Feral Druids can fill the core role of tanking well. While Warriors have significant advantages on some raid bosses, Feral Druids have the unique flexibility to switch from tanking to melee DPS on demand. Ferals often tank bosses or mob groups where more tanks are required, and then change form and gear to DPS on bosses where only 1 or 2 tanks are required. It is also possible during a single fight, if the add they are offtanking dies. While Protection Warriors and Paladins are rather limited to tanking with their talent trees, many talents of the Feral tree are useful for both tanking and melee damage.

Balance Druids have become more popular with the Wrath of the Lich King expansion. Their various abilities, such as the famous [Moonkin Aura] which increased haste by 5%, as well as the debuff [Earth and Moon], increase the amount of damage spell casters in their party or raid can deal.

Aside from their abilities, the feral forms (both cat and bear) and the moonkin form provide a moderate support aura for the Druid's group; increasing crit chance for ferals, and spell haste for moonkins. [Innervate] during long fights and in-combat resurrection for emergencies are also very useful.

Cataclysm changes

General preview

Cataclysm Class Preview: Druid | 2010-04-10 00:59 | Bashiok

In World of Warcraft: Cataclysm we’ll be making several changes to class talents and abilities. Here you will get a glimpse into some of the changes we have in store for the druid. The information you’re about to read is certainly not complete, and is only meant to act as a preview of some of the exciting new things to come. Let’s kick things off by checking out some of the new druid spells and abilities!

New Druid Abilities

Thrash (Level 81): Thrash deals damage and causes all targets within 10 yards to bleed every 2 seconds for 6 seconds. The intent here is to give bears another button to hit while tanking. Talents will affect the bleed, such as causing Swipe to deal more damage to bleeding targets. 5-second cooldown. 25 Rage.

[Stampeding Roar] (Level 83): The druid roars, increasing the movement of all allies within 10 yards by 40% for 8 seconds. Stampeding Roar can be used in cat or bear form, but bears might have a talent to drop the cooldown. The goal of this ability is to give both bears and cats a little more situational group utility. 3-minute cooldown. No cost.

[Wild Mushroom] (Level 85): Grows a magical mushroom at the target location. After 4 seconds the mushroom becomes invisible. Enemies who cross the mushroom detonate it, causing it to deal area-of-effect damage, though its damage component will remain very effective against single targets. The druid can also choose to detonate the mushroom ahead of time. This is primarily a tool for the Balance druid, and there will be talents that play off of it. No cooldown. 40-yard range. Instant cast. Maximum of 3 mushrooms which can be stacked on each other for major damage. You can also talent it to slow down the target after they explode;

Changes to Abilities and Mechanics

In addition to the new abilities listed above, we intend to make changes to some of the other abilities and mechanics with which you’re already familiar. This list and the summary of talent changes below it are by no means comprehensive, but they should give you a good sense of our goals for each spec.

All heal-over-time spells (HoTs) will benefit from crit and haste innately in Cataclysm. Hasted HoTs do not reduce their duration, but instead add additional HoT ticks. Haste will also benefit Energy generation while in cat form.
Unlike the other healers, Restoration druids will not be receiving any new spells. They have plenty to work with already, and our challenge instead is to make sure all of them have a well-defined niche. A druid should be able to tank-heal with stacks of Lifebloom, spot-heal a group with [Nourish] and [Regrowth], and top off lightly wounded targets with [Rejuvenation].
We want to add tools to cat form and depth to bear form. If a Feral cat is going to fill a very similar niche to that of a rogue, warrior or Enhancement shaman, it needs a few more tools -- primarily a reliable interrupt. Bears need to be pushing a few more buttons just so the contrast between tanking and damage-dealing is not so steep.
Barkskin will be innately undispellable.
We will be buffing the damage of [Mangle] (cat) significantly so that when cat druids cannot [Shred], they are not at such a damage-dealing loss.
Druids will lose [Abolish Poison] with the dispel mechanics change, but Restoration druids will gain Dispel Magic (on friendly targets) as a talent. All druids can still remove poisons with [Cure Poison] and remove curses with [Remove Curse].

New Talents and Talent Changes

Tree of Life is changing from a passive talent to a cooldown-based talent, similar to Metamorphosis. Mechanically, it feels unfair for a druid to have to give up so much offense and utility in order to be just as good at healing as the other classes who are not asked to make that trade. We are exploring the exact benefit the druid gets from Tree of Life. It could strictly be better healing, or it could be that each heal behaves slightly different. You also will not be able to be banished in Tree of Life form (this will probably be true of Metamorphosis as well). Additionally, we would like to update the Tree of Life model so that it feels more exciting when you do decide to go into that form. Our feeling is that druids rarely actually get to show off their armor, so it would be nice to have at least one spec that looked like a night elf or tauren (and soon troll or worgen) for most of the time.
We want to make the Feral cat damage rotation slightly more forgiving. We do not want to remove what druids like about their gameplay, but we do want to make it less punishing to miss, say, a Savage Roar or Rake. The changes here will be on par with increasing the duration of Mangle like we did for patch 3.3.3.
Balance druids will have a new talent ability called Nature’s Torrent, which strikes for either Nature or Arcane damage depending on which will do the most damage (or possibly both), and moves the Eclipse meter more (details below). The improved version of Nature’s Torrent also reduces the target's movement speed. 10-second cooldown.
Restoration druids will have a new talent called [Efflorescence], which causes a bed of healing flora to sprout beneath targets that are critically healed by Regrowth.
We plan on giving Feral cats and bears a [Kick]/ [Pummel] equivalent -- an interrupt that is off the global cooldown and does no damage. We feel like they need this utility to be able to fill the melee role in a dungeon or raid group, and to give them more PvP utility.
We want to make sure Feral and Balance druids feel like good options for an Arena team. They need the tools to where you might consider a Feral druid over an Arms warrior, or a Balance druid over a mage or warlock. Remember that the PvP landscape will probably look pretty different for Cataclysm with a focus on rated, competitive Battlegrounds.

Mastery Passive Talent Tree Bonuses

Balance

Spell Damage
Spell Haste
Eclipse: We are moving [Eclipse] from a talent into a core mechanic of the class and making it less random. Balance druids will have a new UI element that shows a sun and a moon. Whenever they cast an Arcane spell, it will move the UI closer to the sun, and buff their Nature damage. Whenever they cast a Nature spell, it will move the UI closer to the moon, and buff their Arcane damage. The gameplay intention is to alternate Arcane and Nature spells (largely [Starfire] and File:Spell Nature wrathv2.png [Wrath]) to maintain the balance.

Feral (Cat)

Melee Damage
Melee Critical Damage
Bleed Damage: Feral druids will receive two sets of passive bonuses depending on whether the druid is in cat or bear form. Bleed Damage will be improved for cats. Savage Defense is the current bear mechanic for converting crits into damage absorption and will be improved for bears.

Feral (Bear)

Damage Reduction
Vengeance
Savage Defense: Feral druids will receive two sets of passive bonuses depending on whether the druid is in cat or bear form. Bleed Damage will be improved for cats. Savage Defense is the current bear mechanic for converting crits into damage absorption and will be improved for bears.

Restoration

Healing
Meditation
HoT Scale Healing: HoTs will do increased healing on more wounded targets. The mechanic is similar to that of the Restoration shaman, but with HoTs instead of direct heals. In Cataclysm, we anticipate druids using a greater variety of their spells so there is a distinction between healing and HoT healing.

Vengeance: This is a mechanic to ensure that tank damage (and therefore threat) doesn’t fall behind as damage-dealing classes improve their gear during the course of the expansion. All tanking specs will have Vengeance as their second talent tree passive bonus. Whenever a tank gets hit, Vengeance will give them a stacking attack power buff equal to 5% of the damage done, up to a maximum of 10% of the character’s unbuffed health. For boss encounters we expect that tanks will always have the attack power bonus equal to 10% of their health. The 5% and 10% bonuses assume 51 talent points have been put into the Feral tree and the druid is in bear form -- these values will be smaller at lower levels. Remember, you only get this bonus if you have spent the most talent points in the Feral tree and are in bear form, so you won’t see Balance, Restoration, or Feral druids in cat form running around with it. Vengeance will let us continue to make tank gear more or less the way we do today -- there will be some damage-dealing stats, but mostly survival-oriented stats. Druids typically have more damage-dealing stats even on their tanking gear, so the Vengeance benefit may be smaller, but overall the goal is that all four tanks do about the same damage when tanking.

We hope you enjoyed this preview, and ask that you provide your initial thoughts and feedback on what was presented here. Please keep in mind, what you’ve just reviewed is a work in progress and as we move closer to the Cataclysm beta, you’ll see these changes as well as others continue to develop in response to testing and feedback.

View original post

Videos

New abilities and talents preview by TGN on YouTube
Balance	Feral & Restoration

Druid DPS Rundown by TGN on YouTube
Balance	Feral

Patch notes

Patch 4.0.1 (2010-10-12): Duration of Restoration HoTs reduced from, e.g. 27 to 6 seconds for [Regrowth]. Class specific quest chains removed - druids who completed the Epic Flight Form quest chain before the patch now have a Feat of Strength
Patch 3.0.2 (2008-10-14): Druids received the regular resurrection spell [Revive]

References

^ World of Warcraft: The Roleplaying Game, 67
^ Alliance Player's Guide, 14
^ Blizzard. Updated Druid Forms Coming Soon. Retrieved on 2009-06-12. “In our next major content patch, druids will find a host of new textures for two major forms, cat and bear.”