World of Warcraft Beta Journal #4
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Category: News ArchiveHits: 815
This patch saw the introduction of the Druid class, and also the re-opening of the Shaman class since it is a Horde only class, and that side was locked last push. These classes are very popular because they are 'new'. Especially the druids, only one race per faction can play the class (Night Elves and Tauren) so if you are in either of those starting regions, 50% of the folks you encounter are going to be druids. On the Horde side of the fence, there are a lot of shamans running around too. Both of these classes wear Leather, and both have some healing. Shamans have a little more melee power out of the gate, but not much. Basic similarities aside, the Shaman rely upon totems, short-term area affect buffs/debuffs, and the Druids have more versatile spells and the ability to shape change.
Druids get a nice complement of spells. Nukes, DoTs, heals, regen heals, damage shields, roots and at least one buff. Their nukes are the second most powerful in the game behind the Mage and along with melee and a DoT line they have versatile damage capabilities and so can help out in any situation. They are a strong healing class. They get three lines of healing spells, a direct heal, a short-term regen heal and a direct heal with a short-term regen component. They are as effective as Priests in the healing department unless the tank is taking a brutal thrashing, and because of this I expect their heals to be toned down eventually. Some of their spells are instant cast, the regen line and their Moonfire line of DoTs to name a few, which makes them very powerful. The most interesting class feature is the shape shifting. These forms open up at 10th with additional shapes like cat form (some rogue abilities and stealth options) opening up as you level. The first one is bear form, meant to be a tank. It has its own set of abilities that you can learn from your trainer, and when in bear form your mana bar disappears and is replaced with a rage bar. Unfortunately, aside from the coolness factor there is no reason to turn into a bear right now. Melee damage and armor increase by 20 and 40 percent respectively (a general estimate as your 'base' values are strongly influenced by gear and level), but this is not enough to offset the inability to cast spells, or even eat food, while shifted.
