I’ll come right out and admit it. PTD is in a little bit of flux right now. There is a chance, I won’t say how big, that I won’t keep playing a Restoration Druid when Wrath hits. That throws off the whole blog title and all, but hey, it’s my blog! Again, it’s only a chance, but it’s there. You see, way back when I switched Pummra over to a healy Druid, my guild was struggling a little bit in terms of healing numbers. The team player I am, I offered to help fill the gap by changing my talent spec from Feral to Resto.
Now, with Wrath coming, things are a lot different in my guild. Healers have popped up everywhere, and now we are positively awash in healers. Paladins, Priests, Shaman, Druids, we have them all.
So I’ve been asking myself, “will I actually be better off leveling a DPS class, given my part-time tendencies?”
I don’t know yet. I do have a fairly well-equipped and well-traveled level 70 hunter sitting around. And I’ll admit, I’m a lot more excited by the Hunter changes than the Resto Druid changes. (Yeah, an OOC rez is awesome, a group heal is great, but come on…I can tame a COREHOUND??) Heck, this is strange to say, but there is more than a decent chance that if I DO elect to level my Hunter, he’ll go Survival. That talent tree in Wrath actually looks…REALLY….good!
If you really get down to brass tacks and think about it, isn’t the release of a “vertical” (ie, more levels to grind) expansion the perfect time to switch around your focus?
Yes, yes it is. I’ll tell you why.
No Gear Reset, But Still Some Nice Gear
Wrath isn’t like BC where you’ll drop your T6 gloves for a pair of green gloves off the first mob you kill, but if you have a character who’s only recently 70, and hasn’t gone through the epic equipment grind, you’ll find some nice gear quickly. My take on the early quest rewards is that you can largely ignore them if you’re wearing Kara or T4 equivalent gear, but they are nice upgrades if you are wearing anything less. Hell, I took a look at the ranged weapon quest reward, and almost took it. My hunter has epically bad luck when it comes to ranged weapon drops, and he’s still using the Wrathtide Longbow from Heroic SV, even though he’s seen Kara many, many times.
Heck, even your T6 will someday go the way of the dodo, so don’t let the purply glow suck you in. Sure, T6 should last a good while for leveling, but at some point you’ll get rid of it. In the not too distant future you’ll be decked out in your T7 on your NEW main, and you’ll wonder why you hesitated to make the switch.
Anyhow, if it turns out you have a BRAND NEW level 70, Wrath is the perfect time, gear-wise, to make them your new main! You’ll actually get some real nice benefit from early quest rewards AND early crafted items. Which brings me to my next point.
Finally Level That Tradeskill
Let’s face it, it can be fantastically painful to max out some tradeskills right now. Heck, outside of gathering and cooking, it’s downright horrible to level most past 350. Well, you don’t have to do it now. Hold off and wait for Wrath. The tradeskills that I have looked at are all giving new patterns that start at 350 skill. These new recipes/patterns also require MUCH easier to obtain mats, and you should be able to finish off that Leather working or Tailoring skill without much trouble while you level.
I know I’m ecstatic to finish off Tailoring and Enchanting without breaking the bank, so to speak.
Talent Trees are A’Changin Anyway
I’ll admit it. I haven’t even looked closely at the Resto Druid talent tree in Wrath. If the other trees I have looked at are any indication, though, there are a lot of changes. I know Feral and Balance have a lot of changes, and the Hunter talent trees are totally reworked, and of course there are the new PET trees to learn. The point of all this is that you are going to have to relearn a lot of stuff anyhow. Why not do it with that other class that you’ve always WANTED to play, but couldn’t stomach abandoning your shinily epiced out Main to the Nether.
Conclusion
There is no better time than now. You aren’t going to be left behind due to gear, as everyone will be busy leveling. Even seasoned players will have to learn new tricks and new encounters. Sure, if you want to continue to be the best healer or Warrior or whatever you can be, you are more than welcome to continue on your present path. But if you’ve always wanted to ditch the Priest for a Fire Ballin’ Mage, don’t hesitate. Now is the time. Heck, I might do it, and I have a blog and it’s title to worry about!
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PTD you took the words out of my mouth. I have a hunter as a main in T5/T6 gear and a new 70 druid. I was thinking that I would take my druid first to 80 then my hunter. But I do love playing my hunter
I’m surprised, Mum. Even with the nerfs in the last couple of builds, resto druids are still going to be friggin’ awesome. I’ve even heard rumors that some of our holy priests were thinking of swapping their main healer toons for trees.
@Ease
I’m only really considering it because of Zhen’s little poll he put up last week. There are about a million Bandits leveling healers right out of the gate. I’ll probably end up just leveling 2 toons at the same time, and take full advantage of rested XP. I’ll never keep up with the fast levelers in guild no matter what I do. It’s sad but true, I will always have catching up to do when it comes to leveling.
I can see that. I’d venture to guess that a good chunk of those peeps won’t level as a healing spec, though, so we’ll still have an overabundance of DPSers until 80 becomes the norm. Only time will tell, I guess.