UPDATE - An AT WoW Thread, oh yeah

[Concillian]

I think your group planning is choosing the wrong role for your 5th member.

You have a hunter's pet for off-tanking, and a rogue can off tank in limited situations (with evasion you have 15 seconds of tanking, add prep and you have 30). I think a mage for AoE + poly would be a better choice, or a warlock for AoE + either CC with the succubus or off-tank with the void. Poly/seduce one and your need for off-tanking is reduced. Plus with a warrior who knows how to handle aggro well plus group members who can actually focus fire on single mobs, really significantly reduces the need for off-tanking in most 5 man situations.

I have played 5 man in a group with a beastmaster hunter, and that guy is a machine in 5 man PvE. He can off tank AND do tons of damage when you combine the pet and his own attacks. He is frequently second and his pet third in damagemeters in a group with mage, warrior, rogue, shaman, warlock that I run with. Plus his talents minimize the healing that needs to be done to the pet. He and his wife 2 manned all the instances through Razorfen Downs with Hunter/Shaman (at appropriate level).

Secondary healing is not really all that necessary either when you're playing with some tactics, rather than the zerg-fest that goes on in PUGs. Plus, the water from a mage will make your instance runs go pretty quick as well.

Ultimately it's your call. Given the choice between the Shaman and Druid, I'd probably choose the druid, primarily because druids are absolutely key in the battlegrounds (WSG and AB at least, probably not as much for AV), and they seem to be gettng significant buffs in 1.8 too. In your group though, it may be more useful to have a Shaman, simply because you can have at least reasonable AoE in the form of Fire Nova and Magma totems + Volley from the hunter. Either is doable, but I can't imagine getting through the groups of non-elites in BRD, for example, the ones that respawn in about 60 seconds, without a mage or warlock.

Given how easy the early instances are when you have a group that works well together, I think I'd gear the 5 more for what you expect to need going into say Strat or Scholo 5 man, which I just can't imagine doing without a strong AoE class in the group.

 

[Malladine]

Hmm, so stronger AoE than volley is basically required? I've been to that room in BRD, it's rough, we didn't have any AoE except volley. I don't think anyone wants to be a mage or warlock. Turns out i'm being a warrior afterall, she changed her mind again. The others are set on Rogue/Hunter/Priest so that leaves her. I'll talk to her

Would Warrior's cleave help at all in the AOE dept?

Yeah, so here's the newest Warrior build. Protection 31/Arms 17/Fury 3:

http://www.worldofwarcraft.com/info/cla...00000300000000000000055250103500000131

 

[ArchAngel777]

Originally posted by: ggnl
From someone with a L60 shaman, roll a druid. As a shaman, you will be stuck as a backup healer/mana battery (via mana tide totem) in virtually all end-game content. The only job more boring than healing is backup healing. Not to mention the fact that you have to gimp yourself in pvp to make a good raid talent build. Add to that the over-abundance of shamans and the shortage of druids and the decision is a no-brainer in my opinion.

I shelved my shaman to start a priest on one of the new RPPVP servers.

I love being the backup healer, it basically means I can get up, get a soda, make some pop corn, turn on the TV and coast through the raid. Before you start bashing me, I never cause a wipe, ever. I pay attention, just not the level of attention that you use when healing the entire group and MT. Pretty much in most raids, I throw a heal or two every 5 minutes. I am not often the backup healer though, I am mostly the main healer. So, I have experience doing both. But just like a job, when I can do less, GREAT!

Fact is, raids are BORING... I think most people will agree that running UBRS for the 15th time gets old, hell, even the 4th time is old. Waiting for that drop and hoping to outroll someone. Not to mention the crappy the ninja looters... Last night, a rogue rolled NEED on a mana regen + int ring... He rolled NEED! It was Bind on Pickup... Luckily he lost the roll, but no one in the raid even called him on it, after I pointed it out. Then, another priest that ran with me rolled on Shaman gear and said "It was for his alt" who he never mentioned... We were like uh..., I don't think so.

Basically, unless you can do tight guild runs in instances, you are going to get screwed. It just happens.

 

[EvanB]

Druids are pretty fun, I have a 60 druid as my main on Dethecus. The talent spec you have there is probably the best feral spec you can have, if you want to be doing as much feral damage as possible. You miss out on Nature's Swiftness, which is a big one, but you gain some interesting skills like Leader of the Pack and Omen of Clarity. Personally I'll probably do 30 feral 21 restoration for NS and Heart of the Wild. Something to consider with omen of clarity is that if you want to use it for free heals you have to consider the mana aspect of shifting back into a form after you shift out. Also, for pvp, the Clearcasting proc will most likely be purgable/dispellable. It is now, anyway. The new version may or may not be the same.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

shamans are awesome, but they are a time a dozen
druids are also awesome and are getting buffed quite nicely. also not as many of them, so they can be in high demand. i would go druid..

then again, i already did,its my main alt at lvl 35

 

[zebano]

IMO druids have the best buff in the game and you can heal, off tank, crowd control and cast a few offenive spells. However a warlock is a good choice because
1. Another pet. A succubus can provide cc or An Imp can provide some extra firepower and has a stamina buff for the whole party.
2. Fear provides CC
3. Some AOE.
4. Some direct damage spells
5. You can transport errant group members to you.

The main downside is that outside of elites in instances your dot's are useless in a group as things die too quickly.

 

[BurnItDwn]

Druid is awesome.

Also, whoever said "raiding is no fun" yea, it's no fun if you raid UBRS 15 times in a row, but the first few times are fun. My guild has finally started raiding ZG (took out a boss on Sunday, then took one out on Monday, tried on Tuesday to take out blood lord but after about 5 wipes it got a bit late so we decided to try another day.) We had a full group of 20 and a decent number of every class, however, a few members of the raid were not yet 60. Most of us still have at least a couple pieces of armor that REALLY needs upgrades (like my level 47 blue head armor that I still haven't replaced), but we were still a pretty effective group.

We are gonna go on a suicide mission to MC on Friday (more or less just to play with 40 of us at the same time, and to see how we deal with the trash mobs there.)


Anyhow, back to my first statement. Druid is awesome.
For the last few weeks I was a mix of Restoration and Feral. I've MT'd Dire Maul Tribute runs, East, BRD, etc. (This was 17 points Feral, 34 restoration.)
I also never ran into issues being a primary healer. Soloing was also not a problem.

Yesterday I respecced pretty much to 100% restoration except a few points in Balance. I can't tank at all nearly as good as I did before (well, I'd do a ton less damage and not hold aggro so good), however, in raids I can now hold my own in healing vs priests. (though not being able to rez more then once every 30 minutes kinda sucks.)